Written by Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC
Alexandre Pantoja wants glory not just for himself, but for the entire flyweight division.
The 125-pound champion successfully defended his title for a fourth consecutive time Saturday at UFC 317 with a dominant submission win over Kai Kara-France. Pantoja’s legendary toughness and elite grappling were on full display as he waded through the challenger’s best shots to impose his will on the fight. Kara-France survived until Round 3, when Pantoja locked in a fight-ending rear-naked choke.
Heading into Saturday, Pantoja was tied with bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili for the No. 3 spot in the MMA Fighting Pound-for-Pound Rankings; now, he believes there’s only one name that deserves to be above him.
“It no make sense if I’m not No. 2,” Pantoja said at the UFC 317 post-fight press conference. “I’m just behind Islam Makhachev. Does not make sense. Five fights for a title. Eight victories in this streak. Second submission, four title defense, numbers don’t lie. The only guy I’m accepting [ahead of me] is Islam Makhachev because he has the numbers.
“I try to understand the pound-for-pound rankings. I think it’s more victories, maybe it’s victories with ranked guys, maybe—I don’t know, guys think I need to beat someone like you put Jack Della Maddalena in front of me. You think I need to beat Jack Della Maddalena to get his position? That’s crazy. I think it’s time to respect flyweight more. Joshua Van, Brandon Royval, made maybe the Fight of the Night tonight. I make a very good fight with Kai Kara-France. I think it’s time for people to change their mind. Flyweight is a very entertaining division and I think things need to change.”
One fight before Pantoja ran through Kara-France, top flyweight contenders Joshua Van and Brandon Royval threw down for three rounds. In the end, Van won a unanimous decision, but both men earned Fight of the Night bonus money for putting on what may end up being the most exciting bout of 2025.
Pantoja believes the 125-pound division has never been more exciting, no matter what some armchair experts have to say about it.
“I think little by little we change [the perception of the flyweight division],” Pantoja said. “Fights like that, Joshua Van and Royval. My fight with Kai Kara-France. Fights like [Brandon] Moreno and [Amir] Albazi. We have so many good fighters. I see the last year, 2024, we had a lot of main events with the flyweights, and I think things start to change. That’s so cool.
“I see on YouTube and Instagram, people saying bad things about my division. I don’t need to say anything about the haters. Hardcore fans go and say, ‘Hey, shut your mouth, casual.’ People realize how good this division is right now and just us can change that. I think because that whole division respects each other, it’s not bad blood with us.”
Pantoja has now won eight straight fights and his UFC run includes victories over Kara-France, Royval, Moreno, Alex Perez, Manel Kape, and numerous other top contenders. Though he has nothing but respect for Demetrious Johnson, widely considered the greatest flyweight of all time, Pantoja feels the division has more depth and diversity than ever before.
“Joshua Van is so good, who can say different?” Pantoja said. “He beat Royval. I think Royval made some mistakes with him, tried to rush too much the fight, didn’t try to grapple a lot. And about the match with [Demetrious Johnson], I said before I really want to fight with him. He said he’s retired, he’s not coming back. Maybe it’s not good for him to come back because the flyweight division right now is so different. This high level is different.
“I respect all the guys opening the doors for us but right now you see, especially in my division, you have the whole world in the same division. Top 10, you have guys from the whole world: Japan. Africa. Brazil. Russia. Australia. New Zealand. That’s so amazing to be part of that.”