UFC champion Alexandre Pantoja wants to defend his title by year-end but with no clear challenger, he suggests a contenders’ fight between Brandon Royval and Amir Albazi, even as former champion Deiveson Figueiredo potentially re-enters the flyweight division.
Alexandre Pantoja is looking forward to defending his UFC title before the end of the year, although he currently sees no clear flyweight challenger. In view of this, the Brazilian talent has suggested to UFC matchmakers to host a No. 1 contender fight between Brandon Royval and Amir Albazi. He believes that “…the most reasonable move is them fighting each other. They’re both saying, ‘I’m next, I’m next, I’m next,’ and they’re both fresh, so let them fight and the winner comes [fight me]. It’s only fair to everybody. Like I said, the division was stuck for a long time, and I was one of the guys waiting on the doorstep. It would be nice to see the division moving again.”
Royval served as the backup fighter for the Moreno vs Pantoja bout at UFC 290. Since losing to Pantoja through submission in 2021, he has claimed victory over Rogerio Bontorin, Matt Schnell, and Matheus Nicolau. Albazi maintains an impressive record of 5-0 under the UFC banner, punctuated by his split-decision triumph over Kai Kara-France. Pantoja intends to take a “super necessary” break of one month to unwind and recover from injuries sustained during three consecutive training camps over the past 18 months. He is considering making his first title defense in December.
The American Top Team fighter thinks that “…it will be good for Moreno to do a non-title fight now,” suggesting that Royval and Albazi are the next logical opponents. There’s a possibility of former champion Deiveson Figueiredo entering the fray due to his previous victory against Pantoja. However, Pantoja remains skeptical. He mentioned that, “Even Deiveson said he wants to go back [to flyweight]. I really don’t understand it. Deiveson is crazy. They offered him Manel Kape, a super interesting fight, and he said no because Manel Kape is ranked too low. When I fought Manel Kape, I was No. 5 and he was unranked. When you want to fight, there’s no excuse. Manel Kape is a super tough fighter.”
Pantoja’s ultimate aspiration involves making enough money in UFC to buy a house for his family in the U.S and uplift his family’s circumstances back in Brazil. At present, he would rather participate in a pay-per-view event rather than potentially headline UFC’s upcoming Fight Night event in Sao Paulo on Nov. 4. Despite his reservations, Pantoja expressed his commitment to accepting any match, saying: “The UFC says I have fight, I’ll fight. I love fighting for the UFC, I love the way they treat the athletes.”