The UFC title defense record of Demetrious Johnson can be in danger if this current champion can be believed.
Johnson enjoyed an illustrious championship government on the largest stage of mixed martial arts that has left him as the undisputed largest flying weight of all time and a frequent figure in general UFC -Geitenijsten and MMA Mount Rushmore selections.
During a dominant rule of six years, 'Mighty Mouse' defended the 125-pound belt 11 times in a row with success-a UFC record that no one has come close to in the eight years since Johnson surpassed Anderson Silva of 10.
But a current UFC champion wants to change that, and he does not claim to require many years to do this.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Alexandre Pantoja needs three years to break Demetrious Johnson's UFC title defense record
Alexandre Pantoja quickly closes the gap for Johnson when it comes to Flyweight-Groten of all time, after he has set up a dominant regime about the schedule of 125 pounds since the recording of the throne in mid-2023.
After Pantoja Brandon Moreno fired at UFC 290, the Brazilian quickly made his first defending defense against Brandon Royval. Another three successful retention have been followed: two in 2024 against Steve Erceg and Kai Asakura, and one this year against Kai Kara-France.
Although 'The Cannibal' needs six more if even equal to Johnson's record for successive defenses, he told Home of Fight in a recent interview that achieving performance is possible.
“Give me three years. I can break this album,” said Pantoja.
“Two fights every year, it will be 11 title fights. I want to break that record, but I will not concentrate on that.”
Alexandre Pantoja already has his next challenger
The next step in Pantoja's trip to break Johnson's record appears after the events that happened on UFC 317 last June.
Pantoja faced his likely next challenger after choking Kara-France in the Co-Main event of the International Fight Week Pay-per-View, which was conducted by Ilia Topuria who eliminated Charles Oliveira.
Before the flying weight was on the line, Joshua got from the back-to-back PPV victories by overcoming from a memorable war with top candidate Royval.
After climbing the ranking with that result, the Young Burmese star is expected to challenge Pantoja during one of the last two numbered UFC events of this year.