UFC Champ Alexandre Pantoja already has his next fight lined up after his fourth-straight title defense.
Two title fights headlined this year’s International Fight Week at UFC 317. The vacant lightweight title is up for grabs in the main event between the undefeated Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira.
The co-main event to one of the biggest fights of the year is the flyweight championship. The reigning Alexandre Pantoja defended his title for a fourth time when he crossed paths with Kai Kara-France.
Pantoja and Kara-France first fought on season 24 of ‘The Ultimate Fighter‘, where the champion Pantoja won their exhibition bout by decision in 2016.
The rematch couldn’t have gone any more different.
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Alexandre Pantoja chokes out Kai Kara-France to retain title in UFC 317 co-main event
Pantoja would not need the judges for his rematch with Kara-France.
Considered one of the best grapplers in the UFC today, Pantoja absolutely dominated Kara-France in the grappling department.
Pantoja controlled the striker for more than 7 minutes and landed 3 takedowns across three rounds.
In round 3, Pantoja had Kara-France’s back and quickly went for the rear-naked choke. Kara-France tried to fight off the hands to the best of his ability but the choke was inevitable.
Pantoja locked in a tight rear-naked choke to finally tap out Kara-France, who went unconscious right after the referee stopped the contest. Kara-France’s face went straight into the canvas.
“One of the best flyweights of all time,” Joe Rogan said of Pantoja following his successful title defense at UFC 317.
Alexandre Pantoja to fight Joshua Van in next title defense
While Alexandre Pantoja has been cleaning out the flyweight division, there is one new contender he has yet to face.
Fighting on the undercard, the 23-year-old Joshua Van earned the next title fight in blood.
A fighter from Myanmar, the #12-ranked contender stepped in on short notice to fight the #1 contender and former title challenger Brandon Royval at UFC 317, weeks after his TKO win at UFC 316.
Van delivered a beautiful ‘fight of the night’ performance, beating Royval on the judges’ scorecards after three hard-fought rounds of action.
UFC CEO Dana White confirmed Royval vs. Van was a title eliminator on Thursday and Van was allowed a face-off with the champion Pantoja in the Octagon.
Van is one of the UFC’s most active fighters, with 6 fights in the last 11 months.