{"id":908479,"date":"2026-09-25T00:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T00:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908479\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T00:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T00:22:12","slug":"demetrious-johnson-urges-alexandre-pantoja-to-retire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908479\/","title":{"rendered":"Demetrious Johnson urges Alexandre Pantoja to retire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it time for \u201cThe Cannibal\u201d to walk away?<\/p>\n

Alexandre Pantoja suffered a unanimous decision loss<\/a> to reigning champion Joshua Van in UFC 331\u2019s main event<\/a> this past Saturday (Sept. 19, 2026) inside Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. Van won by scores of 50-45, 49-47 and 49-46, dropping the Brazilian veteran during a dominant fifth round.<\/p>\n

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson believes Pantoja should retire following his unsuccessful attempt to recapture the 125-pound title.<\/p>\n

It was Pantoja\u2019s second consecutive loss to Van. Their first fight ended after just 26 seconds when Pantoja dislocated his elbow<\/a>, prematurely ending his lengthy championship reign. The immediate rematch gave Pantoja an opportunity to prove the injury was nothing more than a freak accident, but Van instead removed any lingering doubt by defeating the former champion over five rounds.<\/p>\n

Now, Pantoja finds himself in a strange position.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard because he was a champion, and he\u2019s beat Brandon Moreno, he\u2019s beat Brandon Royval,\u201d Johnson said on his YouTube channel<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know if he\u2019s beat Manel Kape, but Manel Kape is going to be fighting Joshua Van next.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the record, Pantoja did defeat Manel Kape, winning a unanimous decision in Kape\u2019s UFC debut<\/a> back in Feb. 2021.<\/p>\n

Pantoja also owns multiple victories over Moreno and Royval, along with championship wins<\/a> over Steve Erceg, Kai Asakura and Kai Kara-France. Indeed, the former champion has already fought \u2014 and beaten \u2014 nearly every established contender at the top of the division.<\/p>\n

That leaves Pantoja stuck in Flyweight no-man\u2019s land.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s kind of interesting because he\u2019s in the no-man\u2019s land where he\u2019s beaten everyone already,\u201d Johnson continued. \u201cThe only guys he can fight now are just newcomers. He\u2019s not going to fight Kyoji Horiguchi because they\u2019re teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson doesn\u2019t see much value in the 36-year-old Pantoja hanging around to become a highly decorated gatekeeper for UFC\u2019s next generation of Flyweight prospects<\/a>. With another championship run likely requiring multiple wins against younger contenders, \u201cMighty Mouse\u201d would rather see his fellow former champion preserve his health.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to knock down an upcoming newcomer because Pantoja is 36,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat\u2019s where my black ass just goes, \u2018Dog, ride off into the sunset. You don\u2019t need to get hit. You don\u2019t need concussions anymore. You\u2019ve done your thing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson knows a thing or two about leaving the sport with something left in the tank. The greatest Flyweight champion in UFC history retired in Sept. 2024 after winning his final four fights and avenging his last defeat.<\/p>\n

Pantoja has not publicly indicated that he is considering retirement. Despite Saturday\u2019s loss, \u201cThe Cannibal\u201d remains one of the greatest Flyweights of all time, having captured the title from Moreno in 2023 before successfully defending it four times.<\/p>\n

UFC 331 also marked Pantoja\u2019s first legitimate defeat since his July 2020 decision loss to Askar Askarov, with his first setback against Van caused by the freak elbow injury.<\/p>\n

He may still have enough left to make one more championship run. Johnson simply doesn\u2019t believe Pantoja has anything left to prove \u2014 or that another belt is worth the damage required to get there.<\/p>\n

For complete UFC 331 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is it time for \u201cThe Cannibal\u201d to walk away? Alexandre Pantoja suffered a unanimous decision loss to reigning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,33601,638,82,296664,139445,702,7788,3194],"class_list":["post-908479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-331","tag-ufc-on-paramount","tag-ufc-news","tag-ufc-results","tag-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}