Many UFC fighters are quick to talk about their desire to move up the weight classes in order to achieve success in multiple divisions. This is not a current priority or goal for UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja.
The Brazilian has already defended his title twice since beating Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 to finally realize his dream of holding the gold. Alongside successful defenses over Brandon Royval and Steve Erceg, Pantoja has already beaten other top contenders in Alex Perez and Manel Kape.
This doesn’t leave the champion with an abundance of options for new challenges when you look at who’s at the top right now, hence why new star signing Kai Asakura will be going straight into a title fight at UFC 310 on December 7. Despite this, Pantoja does not have plans to move to bantamweight in the near future.
In a recent interview with Sherdog, he said that in his opinion, the flyweight division has never been better when you look at the quality of fights and talent. He’s extremely happy where he is, especially whilst he’s on top.
“Flyweight have the best moment ever. We have a lot of main events, a lot of best fights of the night, a lot of bonuses. All the flyweight fights, you make sure that the fight is going to be crazy. I’m super happy with that moment and when I look to the back, I see a lot of good challengers, especially guys coming into the top 10, top 15. New guys in the UFC, that’s crazy. You see Taira make a close fight with Royval. You see Asu (Almabayev) fight beautiful fight with Matheus Nicolau too. You have a lot of good names coming for that division and now, one more, Kai Asakura, is going to be great. I think that’s the best moment for flyweight in UFC.”
Pantoja also said that his desire to move up to bantamweight depends on two things, a potential fight with Sean O’Malley or a rematch with Deiveson Figueiredo but neither are champions right now.
