Ahead of fight night in Las Vegas, Pantoja sat down for a special Q&A session with Stake.com, where he opened up on a range of topics, including his dream fight, a bantamweight title fight that never happened, and his pride in representing his country inside the UFC’s Octagon.
Pantoja on… his dream fight
Demetrious Johnson was my dream fight. If I can choose one fight to have, it would be him.
It’s a different time now. I know he’s not too old and can still fight high level guys. To fight me it would be a great opportunity for him to test himself against the best flyweights of the world.
I understand he has a good life in retirement and the flyweight division is much bigger now. It’s time for the new flyweights to have that opportunity.
My next fight is a hard question to answer. It was meant to be Brandon Royval who has just come off two victories. Then you have Brandon Moreno who is a big star and the former champion doing a great job with Amir Albazi.
Kai Kara France is also up there but he only has one victory after two losses. Manel Kape lost to Muhammad Mokaev before he left the UFC. Maybe you have to bring back Demetrious Johnson and maybe the next will make sense.
Pantoja on… wanting to challenge Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight title
The only time I felt I could challenge for the bantamweight belt was when Sean O’Malley was the champ, but no-one thinks about that guy right now.
We do have a history because he beat me in the gym and posted the video and spoke a lot, and I want to prove that I can beat him in the Octagon.
Right now, I have a huge division to take care of. I have a lot of good names to fight – such as Kai Kara France and Brandon Moreno – who was great against Amir Albazi.
In front of me, I am fighting Kai Asakura – who was the best in Japan and a champion in RIZIN. That is huge for me. UFC went and brought another champion from a different promotion and that’s why the fans want to watch this fight. The UFC can do this because everybody wants to be the star in the UFC, that’s how you prove you are the best in the world by becoming a champion here.
Pantoja on… the strength of the UFC’s flyweight division
The flyweight division is the best it has ever been. The fighters before me such as Demetrious Johnson were the best fighters in the world for so many years, now Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno have done a great job in keeping the division alive.
Henry Cejudo winning two belts in the flyweight and bantamweight division really showed the power of the flyweight division. Figueiredo also went to the bantamweight division and is putting on great fights.
Right now everyone can tell you 5-10 names in the flyweight division. If you go back to 2019, you wouldn’t be able to. Now everyone knows Brandon Moreno, Deiveson Figueiredo, Muhammad Mokaev – I know he will return – Kai Kara France and even my opponent Kai Asakura.
We have hosted a couple main events this year as well. Royval’s fight against Taira was an amazing fight. My fight with Steve Erceg in Rio was great, as well. We are making great moments and it is the best time to be a flyweight.
Pantoja on… a fight with Rodtang Jitmuangnon
The Rodtang fight would be a great fight. However, we have rankings for a reason.
Currently we are already bringing another champion in Kai Asakura to the UFC to fight me. After that fight, I think it will be better for me to fight someone within the rankings and give them a title shot too.
I know I have beaten everyone in the division already, and the guys I haven’t beat have been beaten by the guys I beat. Right now I focus on UFC 310 with a great opponent in Kai Asakura.
Pantoja on… the pride of Brazilian fighters
It’s great to be a part of Brazil’s greatest fighters. When you talk about Charles Oliveira, Minotauro Nogueira, Fabricio Werdum, Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo – you see that we are the country of the fighters.
We know how to fight and have the mentality to absorb every war. We have the ability to absorb Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu from Japan and now the opportunities I have in America to train wrestling against all the best in the world.
I say to my fellow Brazilian fighters that you need to travel and find yourself and that is how you evolve.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=i-x7PmapQU4
