Pantoja is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC right now. He has reigned as the flyweight titleholder since 2023. Pantoja and Dvalishvili will both appear on the main card of UFC 323 on December 5. Pantoja will put his gold on the line against Joshua Van, while Dvalishvili defends the bantamweight title against Petr Yan in a rematch.
Many have wondered if Pantoja could ever put himself in the 135-pound title picture if he continues to dominate at flyweight. Speak with TMZ SportsPantoja made it clear that he has no plans to go one-on-one with “The Machine” (via MMAMania.com).
“I think Merab is one of the best fighters in the world, you know, 100%. He’s number three pound-for-pound, maybe number two,” Pantoja said. “Merab is a tough opponent for anyone in his division… It’s not easy to think about moving up 10 pounds and think you can finish someone like Merab, you know? When you’re talking 10 pounds against my division, Flyweight and Bantamweight, it’s a huge comparison… If you’ve seen Weili Zhang vs. Valentina Shevchenko, you can see the size difference.”
Pantoja didn’t rule out a challenge for the bantamweight championship if Sean O’Malley somehow finds his way back to gold. O’Malley will fight Song Yadong on the January 24 UFC 324 card.
As for Dvalishvili, he’ll be chasing history at UFC 323. If he beats Yan, he’ll set a new record for most successful single-year title defenses in UFC history by four years. So far, Dvalishvili has defended his gold against Umar Nurmagomedov, O’Malley and Cory Sandhagen in 2025.
Pantoja has made it clear that his main focus is to continue to demonstrate his dominance in the 125-pound weight class. Time will tell if Pantoja decides to change his mind.
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