A key fight for the flyweight division at UFC 277 found Alex Perez and Alexandre Pantoja facing off.
The main card match-up was the first fight back for Perez after losing a title bid against Deiveson Figueiredo in November of 2020. While multiple fights had been scheduled for Perez last year, including bouts with Askar Askarov and Matt Schnell, injuries, ailments, and weight misses had scrapped all of them.
Pantoja for his part entered the night off a pair of wins against Brandon Royval and Manel Kape. He came out of it with the third victory — a stunning statement that took less than two minutes for the Brazilian to make.
Round saw one Pantoja came out firing like a madman, throwing left and right hands at Perez with reckless abandon. Pantoja then went in for a takedown, took the back, and stayed on it with a body triangle when Perez stood up. Still dry and in perfect position, Pantoja went looking for the choke. Perez instead gave up the neck crank and then tapped. Just like that, Alexandre Pantoja earned his 10th career win by submission — and inserted himself into the title conversation.
Official Result: Alexandre Pantoja def. Alex Perez via R1 1:31 Submission (RNC)
