Alexandre Pantoja enters UFC 296 with the backing of arguably the greatest fighter to compete in his weight class. Demetrious Johnson , the first and most dominant flyweight champion in UFC history, is fully confident Pantoja (26-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) is going to get the job done this Saturday. Pantoja defends his title for the very first time against Brandon Royval in the co-main event of UFC 296, which goes down at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. For Johnson, this is a moment he saw coming years before Pantoja became UFC flyweight champion. “I’ve always said Pantoja is a dark horse of the flyweight division,” Johnson said on his YouTube channel . “Even when he did ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ when it was all the flyweights around the world, all the champions, I had him as one of the best fighters in that tournament, but sometimes the path to victory is longer or harder for other gentlemen.
Excerpt from:
Demetrious Johnson confident ‘legit’ Alexandre Pantoja defends title at UFC 296 – MMA Junkie