Alexandre Pantoja is perfectly happy to remain in the flyweight division for the time being.
A lot of the talk heading into UFC 317 this weekend surrounds the vacant lightweight title fight between two of the biggest names in the sport.
Charles Oliveira looks to add another iconic win to his legendary career, when he faces Ilia Topuria in the main event on June 28.
In the co-main event, one of the UFC’s most dominant champions makes his return as Pantoja faces Kai Kara-France, but many fans seem more interested in seeing the flyweight champion move up.
Merab Dvalishvili is cementing himself as one of the greatest bantamweights of all time and though Pantoja is interested by this fight, he still has business to attend to at 125 pounds.
Alexandre Pantoja says Joshua Van, Manel Kape and Kyoji Horiguchi are all interesting flyweight opponents
During his media day interview ahead of UFC 317, Alexandre Pantoja was asked about whether he intends to move up a weight class in the near future.
He gave a clear response before going on to say that a super fight with Merab Dvalishvili is something that would get him excited, it’s just not a fight that he’s actively campaigning for at this moment.
“People say, ‘Hey, you need to move on to bantamweight.’ No way man… Of course, I want to fight with the best fighters in the world. If I have the opportunity to fight with Merab, of course I’d accept but it’s not something I really look for. I have my division. I’m super excited about that division.”
Pantoja said that while challenging himself at bantamweight would be interesting, there are still several challengers whom he’s looking forward to facing at flyweight.
The Brazilian named his teammate, Kyoji Horiguchi, and former opponent Manel Kape as two potential opponents, along with Joshua Van, who Pantoja believes will be the next in line if he’s able to defeat Brandon Royval on short notice at UFC 317.
Alexandre Pantoja is right to say that the flyweight division has picked up in recent times
While the flyweight division may still be suffering from the fact that many of the top names have already faced each other, Alexandre Pantoja isn’t wrong when he talks about its current strength.
Pantoja told the media that in his opinion, 2024 was the best year for the flyweights with fans appreciating it more now that it has plenty of exciting fighters.
In an era of the UFC where champions are constantly talking about moving up or down divisions, it’s refreshing to hear Pantoja say that he’s not chasing a super fight because there are plenty of interesting options for him in his own weight class.
This is especially true if Joshua Van is able to pull off a remarkable upset at UFC 317 to emerge as the next title challenger.