Belal Out, Alexandre Pantoja In? Flyweight Champ Seeks Main Event Spot at UFC 310 “I’m going to put on a very good show.”
The UFC flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja has expressed his thoughts on the recent news that Belal Muhammad has been removed from the UFC 310 card due to injury. He is booked in a flyweight title match against Japan’s Kai Asakura, originally booked as the co-main, but the Brazilian champion is campaigning for the main event in Las Vegas on December 7.
Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 310
Brazil’s Alexandre Pantoja has produced some of the most exciting matchups in the UFC with wins against fighters such as Brandon Royval, Steve Erceg, and Brandon Moreno, among others. He is set to face the RIZIN world champion Kai Asakura at UFC 310. Japan’s Asakura is recognized for punching power and boxing.
Belal Muhammad was booked to face the unbeaten Shavkat Rakhmonov in a welterweight title match but was forced to withdraw due to injury. UFC 310 is reportedly without a main event. Some have speculated that an interim welterweight title match will be booked or the light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will face a last-minute opponent. But, Alexandre Pantoja is asking, why not him?
In an interview with Mike Heck, the Brazilian champion Alexandre Pantoja explained:
“I heard about Belal [being] hurt like two days ago in my gym before and I said, ‘It’s right?,’” Pantoja told MMA Fighting. “But it’s just talk, the guys just talking about it and then [earlier] I just seen the video [with him] in hospital with his feet. That’s a real, real problem on there, and this happens [at] a lot in the MMA gyms, some infections [on] the floor, they go to the gym. … I just [have] one main event in my life — in my last fight in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro, and I know there’s some difference [fighting in that spot].“
Alexandre Pantoja continued:
“You need to do more stuff to sell your pay-per-view, sell your fight, and let’s go. It’s a good time to learn about that. I think what everybody knows about is how I’m fighting, and after, I took a little break — maybe people don’t realize that, but I took a little break. My last fight was in May and now I fight in December, and this break is very good for me, for my family, you know.”
“And now I feel super fresh for that fight because I had a good time, my family had a good time and now we’re in camp again. And we can see the difference in the house because my family breathes my fights. After all, this happened for so many years. I know, 100 percent, I’m going to put on a very good show. I don’t like to say I’m going to finish that guy, I do my job, but, 100 percent, I’m in the best shape of my life.”
On facing the RIZIN world champion Kai Asakura, he added
“That’s what everybody wants to see: The best [in the] UFC versus another promotion, another champion for all the world, and I have the opportunity. I’m very happy with the opponent for me, and more because I have [fought in main] events and Asakura [is] very popular in Japan, and I know [that] the Japanese buy a lot of pay-per-views too. That’s very good.”
