Alexandre Pantoja Beats Kai Asakura By Submission to Win Flyweight Title at UFC 310

Alexandre Pantoja continued piling up title defenses at UFC 310 with a second-round submission win over Kai Asakura on the T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas.

It did not take lengthy for the motion to get going on this one. The champion confidently got here to the middle of the cage and tried to land the primary salvo, however the contender responded with a flying knee.

The following change changed into a scramble and high management for Pantoja.

Nevertheless, that was brief lived and the 2 labored their means again to the ft. Pantoja wasn’t afraid to change with the previous bantamweight champion and nonetheless survived the spherical.

The second-round did not work out so properly for the challenger. He was capable of land a couple of pictures, however the champion jumped to a again take gainst the fence. From there he was capable of sink in a rear-naked choke that rendered Asakura unable to proceed.

Pantoja now has three consecutive title defenses since profitable the title again in July 2023 and joined a couple of good lists.

The flyweight title has been fairly slippery since Demetrious Johnson’s reign of 11 title defenses from September 2012 to August 2018. Pantoja is the primary champion to defend it 3 times since then and Deiveson Figueiredo is the one different champion to defend it twice in that time-frame.

The Brazilian continues to make his case that he is the very best on the earth at 125 with a seven-fight win streak. His victory over Asakura, who was the bantamweight champion of Japan’s RIZIN Combating Federation, lends extra credence to that declare.

Nevertheless, there’s nonetheless a protracted approach to go earlier than he can attain the likes of Demetrious Johnson. Steve Erceg was ranked tenth within the flyweight division once they met and this title protection comes towards a UFC newcomer.

There are many challenges awaiting the champion.

Rematches with Brandon Royval and Brandon Moreno are each choices. He talked about them in an interview with Stake heading into this struggle.

“It was meant to be Brandon Royval who has simply come off two victories,” he stated of his subsequent challenger. “Then you’ve got Brandon Moreno who’s an enormous star and the previous champion doing an important job with Amir Albazi. Kai Kara France can be up there however he solely has one victory after two losses.”

Pantoja has two wins over Royval so it is onerous to image that being the following struggle. Nevertheless, a rematch with Moreno would make some sense. The primary struggle was a break up choice and Moreno simply beat rising contender Amir Albazi.

Regardless, Pantoja confirmed why he is the champion once more on Saturday evening.