Alexandre Pantoja will make the first defence of his UFC flyweight title this coming weekend at UFC 296, against Brandon Royval.
The two shared the Octagon back in 2021 where the Brazilian picked up a second round submission. Since then, “The Cannibal” has fought twice, one being against Alex Perez and the other being his title winning performance against Brandon Moreno.
The newly minted champion admitted at the UFC 296 media day, that he thinks Royval is deserved of the title shot. As well as that, Pantoja believes their fight will be Fight of the Night, due to both of their styles.
“Royval really deserves to fight for the belt, after he lost to me he’s made it three victories in a row, his last two fights have been two finishes in the first round with two bonuses, that makes me very excited because I like to get bonuses too.
“I respect Royval’s style, he’s very aggressive, good on the ground, similar to me you know. The fight is going to be who wants it more and I want it a lot.”
Not looking past “Raw Dawg” Royval, Pantoja commented on the state of the 125lb division and how competitive it is throughout the top 15.
“In my division you have very good fighters, you can take number 10 with number one and 10 can win. Very close fights with very good fighters, good striking, good cardio, I love to watch the flyweight division it’s very fun and entertaining fights and I don’t make wishes. Whoever deserves it will fight with me.”
Watch the full UFC 296 media day appearance from Alexandre Pantoja above.
