Alexandre Pantoja is good. Maybe even great, but he’s not special.
Coming off a successful albeit challenging defense against Steve Erceg in May, ‘The Cannibal’ will put his flyweight world title on the line when he welcomes two-time RIZIN champion Kai Asakura to the Octagon at UFC 310.
Asakura getting a title shot in his first career fight under the UFC banner came as quite a surprise to many fight fans, but anyone familiar with Asakura’s work can certainly understand why Dana White and Co. handed him the instant opportunity.
Primarily competing in RIZIN, Asakura is 21-4 with 13 of his victories coming via KO/TKO, and held the promotion’s bantamweight belt on two separate occasions.
Some would say that the 31-year-old veteran is a special kind of athlete. Too bad he can’t say the same about Pantoja.
“Pantoja is great at everything, but he’s not special at anything; he doesn’t have a unique skill in one area that makes him better than anyone else,” Asakura told E. Spencer Kyte of UFC.com. “What makes him better than anyone else is his heart — he’s got great heart, and that’s what makes him a great champion, but I don’t see him representing any problems for me anywhere. He’s someone I don’t think I’ll have any problem dealing with.
“The advantage I hold over Pantoja is that I have one-shot knockout power, so it only takes one shot. And I’m expecting this fight to be over with one shot. I know in the history of the UFC, there have been many famous knockout scenes, but I’m hoping that at UFC 310, I can add my finish to those highlight reels.
Kai Asakura plans on beating Pantoja to become the uFC’s first Japanese World champion
Over the UFC’s 31+ years of existence, the promotion has hosted a slew of top-tier talent from The Land of the Rising Sun — Kyoji Horiguchi, Yushin Okami, Takanora Gomi, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Tatsuro Taira, to name a few.
However, none of them ever held UFC gold. In fact, no fighter from Japan has ever become a UFC champion in the modern era — something Asakura plans to remedy on December 7.
“Until now, there have been many fighters In the UFC from Japan who have fought and tried to win a title, and none of them have been successful,” Asakura said. “I feel like there is an impression amongst fight fans that Japanese fighters aren’t that strong, so my goal is to go there and prove that the Japanese fighters are amongst the best fighters in the world.
“I want to bring back MMA’s popularity in Japan, and provide a place where my friends, teammates, and other fighters are able to earn a living in Japan. I feel like someone has to bring the MMA scene back to Japan, and I’m very proud that I’m part of the Japanese generation that will bring MMA popularity back to Japan.”