This past Saturday in the main event of UFC 310, the flyweight title was on the line. Champion Alexandre Pantoja (29-5) was looking for his third successful title defense as he took on former Rizin bantamweight champion and promotional newcomer Kai Asakura (21-5).
Entering the bout, there was a lot of hype and intrigue surrounding Kai Asakura. The flashy and powerful striker from Japan was poised to be a unique and dynamic challenger to the current champion. However, one man who as completely unphased by the new challenger was the champion Alexandre Pantoja.
Pantoja was cool and confident that he would remain the flyweight champion and that’s exactly how he fought. From the opening bell, Pantoja marched forward and exchanged with the powerful striker. While Asakura threw his crazy flying knees, it was Pantoja who was getting the better of the exchanges with his clean boxing.
In the second round, Pantoja was able to secure a takedown and he got the back of Asakura. From there, it didn’t take long for him to lock in a rear naked choke. Once the choke was in, the fight was over and Pantoja retained his UFC flyweight title.
What’s next after UFC 310?
What’s next becomes the big question. Pantoja is the best flyweight fighter in the world and I don’t think anyone else is really close at this moment. The UFC has a little bit of an issue with him at the moment because of his success against the guys who are at the top of the flyweight rankings.
Brandon Royval is the number one contender after his wins this year over Brandon Moreno and Tatsuro Taira. The problem is that Royval fought Pantoja last December for the title and was dominated. That was Royval’s second loss to Pantoja. Moreno is behind Royval after defeating Amir Albazi last month, but Moreno has three losses against Pantoja if you count their fight on The Ultimate Fighter.
The next logical challenger for Pantoja should be Kai Kara-France. KKF is currently the UFC’s fourth ranked flyweight but he’s never fought Pantoja before. He’s coming off a huge knockout win over Steve Erceg who nearly defeated Pantoja earlier this year. If the promotion looks at current flyweights, Kai Kara-France.
There are some other options if you go up a weight class. These are far less likely, but I wouldn’t totally rule them out until KKF is booked against Pantoja. Henry Cejudo has talked about potentially dropping back down to flyweight. After Cejudo dethroned Demetrious Johnson, he only had one title defense against TJ Dillashaw before moving up to bantamweight.
He could be an option the UFC could look at. Another option could be Deiveson Figueiredo. I know Figueiredo just lost to Petr Yan in Macau, but Figueiredo is the former flyweight champion who has defeated Alexandre Pantoja. I can’t see Figueiredo wanting to drop back down, but again, I wouldn’t rule it out.