Summary
Merab and Pantoja backstage at the UFC. Photo: Reproduction/X/UFC
It's no secret that Alexandre pantoja e Merab Dvalishvili They are two of the most dominant champions in MMA today. Therefore, many fans are hoping that the pair will win their bouts in... UFC 323, an event that takes place this Saturday (6), in Las Vegas (USA), so that the possible super fight can take place afterwards. However, the kings of flyweight (up to 57 kg) and bantamweight (up to 61,2 kg) have other properties.
At the pre-UFC 323held last Thursday (4), Pantoja, who was on the Georgian's side, preferred to praise his attitude rather than promote a hypothetical fight. As this will be the fourth time that Merab will put the bantamweight belt on the line in 2025, the Brazilian recognized the achievement and took a dig at the other champions of the company who, unlike him and 'The Machine', don't care about fighting, much less defending the title.
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“Merab and I worked very hard to get to this point and we don’t want it to end. Maybe other champions are a little lazy because everything is easy. We want to keep the belt, change our lives and our family’s lives. We proved the pound-for-pound rankings wrong, the mistakes, the guys who talk a lot of nonsense about the flyweight division, we changed that in the octagon with good performances, and that’s why we’re still motivated. You see other champions looking for another belt or having some minor injury and they don’t want to fight for more than six months. Merab and I, if the UFC calls, can fight every two months. After this fight, the UFC can call, and we’ll be ready to fight again,” said the athlete.
After being recognized by the flyweight king, Merab, overjoyed, made a point of congratulating his new friend. And, just like the Brazilian, the bantamweight champion didn't rule out a potential superfight between them in the UFC, but made it clear that his focus is on making his mark in MMA by expanding his dominance in the division.
“Much respect and much love, brother. Good luck. I want to focus on my weight class. I don't want to keep jumping from weight class to weight class, going down or up. I want to focus entirely on cleaning up the division. If the UFC wants me to go up or down, we'll talk later. Right now, my focus is on Yan. I know he wants to knock me out and my job is to stop him from doing it,” the fighter replied.
Check out all the fights from UFC 323.
MAIN CARD (24pm Brasília time)
Bantam weight (up to 61,2 kg): Merab Dvalishvili x Petr yan 2
Flyweight (up to 57 kg): Alexandre pantoja x Joshua Van
Flyweight (up to 57 kg): Brandon Moreno x Tatsuro Taira
Bantam weight (up to 61,2 kg): Henry Cejudo x Payton Talbott
Light heavyweight (up to 93 kg): Jan Blachowicz x Bogdan Guskov
PRELIMINARY CARD (20pm Brasília time)
Light weight (up to 70,3 kg): Grant dawson x Manuel Torres
Light weight (up to 70,3 kg): terrance mckinney x Chris Duncan
Flyweight (up to 57 kg): Maycee barber x Karina Silva
Light weight (up to 70,3 kg): Nazim Sadykhov x fares ziam
Average weight (up to 83,9 kg): Marvin vettori x Bruno Hulk
Light weight (up to 70,3 kg): Edson Barboza x jalin turner
Light heavyweight (up to 93 kg): Iwo Baraniewski x Ibo Aslan
Average weight (up to 83,9 kg): Mansur Abdul-Malik x Antonio Trocoli
Featherweight (up to 65,8 kg): Muhammad Naimov x Mairon Santos
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