Alexandre Pantoja sits in elite status now as the only fighter not named Demetrious Johnson to have multiple title defenses in the UFC flyweight division.
A personal sense of pride was on full display Saturday during and after his UFC 301 main event title win over Steve Erceg. But it’s the words “main event” that almost mean as much to Pantoja (28-5 MMA, 12-3 UFC) as “title win.”
“I’ve always said this division is entirely tough,” Pantoja said at the UFC 301 post-fight news conference. “You can take the 10th-ranked guy and have him fight against the champion and you guys saw exactly that tonight. This division is all about work. You can’t move up in the rankings just by talking. I’m really happy to see this. I think it was a watershed moment for the division. We’ve been having main events in Mexico. There was a main event last week between flyweights, so I’m very happy to see this moment.”
