Alexandre Pantoja 'willing to fight for the interim belt' if needed at UFC 277

When opportunity presented itself, Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight Alexandre Pantoja ensured his greatest chance for success possible.

Brazil’s Pantoja (24-5) signed up for a match at the end of July against former title challenger Alex Perez (24-6) at UFC 277, fully recovered from his knee injury that forced him out of a championship fight at the beginning of 2022. Pantoja was slated to rematch Brandon Moreno, a foe he has topped twice before, once in 2018 in the UFC and earlier in 2016 on their season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Following its announcement and confirmation by the fighters, Pantoja spoke to Sherdog about the matchup.

“I just signed the contract, now I can talk about,” Pantoja said coyly.

As Pantoja is a top-ranked flyweight, the UFC wanted him to step him and replace Askar Askarov on the July 16 event to retain a pivotal match on that Fight Night lineup. His management team disagreed, not because of a lack of preparation, but that a key fight would take place in his division on July 30: Moreno vs. Kai Kara France for the interim strap. His team negotiated for the fight to take place on UFC 277 instead.

“It couldn’t be more fair,” Pantoja noted. “After all, I was supposed to face Moreno for the title, when I had to withdraw due to an injury, and Deiveson got my place and conquered the title after beating Moreno in a trilogy.”

Having faced off Moreno on two separate occasions, and submitting the man in Brandon Royval who tapped out Kara France, Pantoja believes Kara France should be favored in the interim title fight.

“The level in the flyweight division is really high,” Pantoja said proudly. “I see Kara France with more knockout power, but on the other hand, Moreno has an amazing chin. I would say that Kara is slightly [the] favorite in that one.”

After two months of intense physiotherapy coming off his knee injury and subsequent surgery, Pantoja returned to normal training in March, and he hopes to have a great return against Perez.

“Alex is such a tough kid,” the Brazilian admitted. “By the way, there is no easy fight against any top 10 of our division, but I’m back in my best shape to beat him and finally get the chance to fight for the belt. In case UFC needs me against Kara [France] or for a trilogy against Moreno, I’ll be willing to fight for the interim belt.”

“The Cannibal” made his pro debut in 2007, and as he grew, he won 16 fights and suffered only two losses — both by decision — to Willian Viana and Jussier Formiga, before joining the UFC 10 years later. Pantoja is coming into his match with Perez on a two-fight win streak, having submitted Royval and beaten Manel Kape on the scorecards. The 11-month layoff from his last appearance in August 2021 to UFC 277 will be his longest since 2016, prior to joining the "TUF" roster.

His opponent Perez has not competed since 2020, with his last outing an unsuccessful one against Figueiredo for the belt. While he fell short, he did become the first fighter to emerge from Dana White's Contender Series and fight for a UFC title. A slew of injuries, weight issues and problems for his various opponents have kept him on the shelf since UFC 255.