UFC Hall of Famer Demetrious Johnson is encouraging former UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja to retire from MMA.
Pantoja lost a unanimous decision to UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van this past weekend in the main event of UFC 331, which was his second straight loss after being stopped via TKO due to injury by Van at UFC 323 last year.
Now, at age 36 and having lost two straight fights, Johnson believes Pantoja should seriously consider hanging up his gloves.
Demetrious Johnson Says Alexandre Pantoja Should Think About Retirement
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Johnson explained why he thinks Pantoja should step away from the sport.
“It’s hard becauae he was a champion, and he’s beat Brandon Moreno, he’s beat Brandon Royval. I don’t know if he’s beat Manel Kape, but Manel Kape is going to be fighting Joshua Van next. So it’s kind of interesting because he’s in the no-man’s land where he’s beaten everyone already. The only guys he can fight now are just newcomers. He’s not going to fight Kyoji Horiguchi because they’re teammates. You don’t want to knock down an upcoming newcomer because Pantoja is 36. That’s where my black ass just goes, ‘Dog, ride off into the sunset. You don’t need to get hit. You don’t need concussions anymore. You’ve done your thing,'” Johnson said. (via MMAjunkie.com).
Alexandre Pantoja Has Path Back to Title
Although Johnson is entitled to his opinion, and he certainly brought up fair reasons why Pantoja should walk away from MMA, Pantoja still has a clear path back to the title despite losing twice to Van.
That’s because Pantoja holds a previous win over No. 1 flyweight contender Manel Kape in the UFC, so if Kape beats Van in the next flyweight title bout, it gives Pantoja the chance to get right back to where he was before he lost the belt to Van last year.
Pantoja would likely have to go out there and beat two more top contenders at flyweight before he was granted another title shot at 125 lbs, but it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that he can do that.
Demetrious Johnson Encourages Alexandre Pantoja to Retire