Alexandre Pantoja is ready to get his belt back at UFC 331 – and teach Joshua Van a lesson in the process.
It was Van who ended Pantoja’s four-fight run as flyweight champion this past December, when Pantoja broke his arm and was left unable to continue just 26 seconds into their first meeting. Since then, Pantoja has been recovering and preparing for his rematch, while Van notched a successful title defense with a win over Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328.
Not only is Pantoja looking to right that wrong, his rivalry with Van has grown more personal, and he warns that the animosity will be evident whent hey meet in the octagon.
“You can see how annoyed I am, I feel it, too,” Pantoja said on the official UFC 331 weigh-in show. “Every fight is different. It’s never the same one and I’m not the same guy. I’m very mature now, I’m a father of two kids, I know how to teach a kid a good mood and tomorrow night I’m glad this kid’s not mine because he’s going to suffer.”
Before his loss to Van, Pantoja was on a run for the ages, scoring wins over Brandon Moreno, Brandon Royval, Manel Kape, Alex Perez, Kai Asakura, and Kai Kara-France to cement himself as a future UFC Hall of Famer. He hopes to add Van to that list and is determined to get a win no matter where the action takes them.
“That’s what I want, I want to fight the best fighters in the world,” Pantoja said. “Joshua proved that and he’s very skilled in the strike zone, but I’ve loved striking since I was born. I think I’m ready to strike with whatever fighter, and I don’t know if every fighter’s ready for my grappling game. That’s MMA.”
Pantoja’s title fight wins over Kara-France and Asakura both ended inside the distance, and his career record shows a near even split when it comes to methods of victory (8 knockouts, 12 submissions, 10 decisions).
He can’t say for sure that he’ll finish Van, but he’s going to have fun for as long as Saturday’s main event lasts.
“I don’t know. If Joshua Van can stand up with me for five rounds, good for him or not, but I’m ready to war,” Pantoja said. “I’m ready to enjoy.”
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