The Co-Main event of UFC 317 is a one-to-watch, because two flying weights are fighting for championship gold.
Alexandre Pantoja defends his title against the #4 competition, Lead to an increaseIn the T-Mobile Arena.
Both hunters have previously confronted each other in the ultimate hunter: season 24, where the Brazilian won through the judges’s decision.
Since 2016, the two 125 ponders have gone from prospects in the division to top candidates.
Although Pantoja doesn’t look to stop and does not get the credit that he deserves, he might be against his toughest test.
Pantoja’s run as king of the flying weights
The ‘cannibal’ has been in glorious form since his victory against Manel Kape at UFC Vegas 18.
The Jager born in Rio de Janeiro yielded a title shot after two consecutive entry wins on Brandon Royval and Alex Perez.
Pantoja became the title finalist at UFC 290, confronted with double UFC Flyweight champion Brandon Moreno in the Co-Main event.
In what was described as an epic fight, as well as a narrow battle, Pantoja won through a split decision to take the fly weight throne.
In the same year De Brazilian won the championship, he defended the belt on UFC 296 in another Rematch.
This time against Royval, go to the scor cards of the jury members and win through unanimous decision to take his first successful defending defense.
The king of the flying weights then finally had the opportunity to fight in his hometown, and for the first time in his UFC career for the first time.
Pantoja headed UFC 301 and accepted Steve Erceg’s challenge for the 125-pound title.
Again, the Rio de Janeiro Mixed Martial Artist went to the jury’s scorecards and took a unanimous decision triumph.
The last victory of his current notorious run was at UFC 310, where Pantoja again seemed in the main event.
The ‘Cannibal’ took on UFC debutant, Kai Asakura, and stopped the Japanese hunter with a second-neat choke in round two.
After raising his winning series to seven, Pantoja is only at #9 in the pound-for-pound ranks of the men.
The Brazilian is ranked the lowest of all other UFC champions, despite the second most title victories among the current champions.
Only one of the many reasons why he is so undervalued as the title holder of the UFC.
Kara-France’s trip for undisputed gold
The New Zealand hunter has certainly had his ups and downs; Nevertheless, he has achieved the position to be a flying weight title.
The rise of ‘Don’t Blink’ started at UFC 259, where he earned himself a late KO victory of the first round against Rogerio Bontorin.
This would be his first victory after seven fights with the organization.
The kiwi then became a recognizable name in the UFC when he welcomed Cody Garbrandt in the 125-pound division.
As a light underdog, Kara-France delivered a dominant version and the former Bantam weight champion in the Round one at UFC 269.
After beating a favorite of the fans of the sport, the mixed war artist born in Auckland strived for title conflicts.
Kara-France increased his winning series to three when he went the distance with Askar Askarov to win through unanimous decision.
This triumph would give the New Zealand hunter a chance at Interim UFC Gold against Moreno.
Unfortunately for the kiwi, a brutal body kick in the third round left no choice but to lose by TKO, missing his chance to fight DeiveSon Figueiredo for the undisputed title.
It would only go more downhill for Kara-France because he received a split loss of decision for Amir Albazi at UFC Vegas 74.
A result that according to many of the MMA community was a theft.
‘Don’t blink’ came back with salvation in his next fight and spent Erceg in the first round at UFC 305.
A huge statement in which many believed that Kara-France deserved his chance to fight for the undisputed flight weight championship finally.
How could the title fight play?
In their first collision in the ultimate hunter, both men defended each other’s strong attributes very well, but could not get anything.
Pantoja is a hunter who prefers to keep the ground fights, which is why he has earned 11 submissions in his MMA career.
The Brazilian likes to put pressure on his opponents in the Octagon and will not be afraid to exchange strikes, as he did with his previous opponents.
Kara-France specializes in keeping the game on his feet, because he is always looking for that knockout shot.
The Kiwi does have a brilliant Takedown defense, which will be an important factor on the way to the Co-Main event of UFC 317.
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