Rumored Alexandre Pantoja vs Kai Kara-France set as co-main event for UFC 314 on April 12th

[SalvadorAllende]

I get the circumstances.
Starboy would've been a better look, with only 1 official loss, which was a close no show against an ex ufc fighter.
Good fight though and Pantoja via Sub

Yeah.. but Kape has already lost to Pantoja.

I guess they give Kape a title eliminator next and

 

[Dreyga_King of Sherbums]

I actually think Pantoja gets KTFOd in this one. The City kickboxing guys all have decent TD defense and KKF is one of the few FW who possess true knockout power.

Pantoja is a badass but he’s super reckless and thats part of what makes him great. But i can just see Pants lunging in for a TD and getting clipped.

I can definitely see that

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

We need Kyoji back or 40 year old DJ. Wtf are we doing.

Pantoja's just that good. He's basically cleaning out the entire division.
I expect him to either finish Kai in the championship rounds or win a wide decision.

I don't really think he would fair any better than any of DJ's other challengers when he was champ.

 

[Cameron]

This should be a good scrap. Kai has underrated takedown defence. But I expect Alex to win.

 

[World eater]

So the main event is Ilia - Volk, the comain Pantoja -KKF? Not excited, tbh. Plus, we’ll see another ritual sacrifice of Gilbert Burns, something that just rubs me the wrong way. Krylov - Reyes?

 

[Conan the K-9]

Why is everyone talking about takedown defense here? KKF needs to be worried about the back takes and potential scrambles with Pantoja, because those are the best in the organization.

 

[Tweak896]

KKF finally gets title shot. Can't fault UFC for this one, anyone at FLW can get one at this point.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Pantoja's just that good. He's basically cleaning out the entire division.

The division also was "cleaned" partly because of a lot of wasted contenders too. Mokaev shot himself in the foot. Robbery claims or not, based on beating KKF, Albazi did not need another fight, so he was wasted against Moreno which wasn't even an eliminator. And the whole Askarov needing to wait for the Fig-Moreno series to run, even though he was unbeaten in 15 fights, and the #2 guy with wins over #3 Pantoja, #5 Benavidez, #10 Elliott, and a draw against #1 Moreno. Mix that getting screwed over with his 'health problems' and no wonder he was in another promotion within 3 months

Fly has been kinda bungled up for a while now

 

[Thesnake101]

I mean, sure, whatever.

The division also was "cleaned" partly because of a lot of wasted contenders too. Mokaev shot himself in the foot. Robbery claims or not, based on beating KKF, Albazi did not need another fight, so he was wasted against Moreno which wasn't even an eliminator. And the whole Askarov needing to wait for the Fig-Moreno series to run, even though he was unbeaten in 15 fights, and the #2 guy with wins over #3 Pantoja, #5 Benavidez, #10 Elliott, and a draw against #1 Moreno. Mix that getting screwed over with his 'health problems' and no wonder he was in another promotion within 3 months

Fly has been kinda bungled up for a while now

Askarov couldn't make weight for the Benavidez fight so he would've always been forced to take another fight and pulling out of the Alex Perez fight didn't help his case. Also considering he took 2024 off in ACA then it's hard to think he would've been actually relevant to the title picture.

Albazi just suffered from that robbery, it's sort of like when Marlon got skipped over in favor of Aldo for the Yan fight.

Mokaev is the one who had the strongest case, but he would've been put in Taira's spot against Royval given how unlikable and boring he turned out to be against the toughest guys he fought. From there it's not unreasonable to think we would've ended up in a similar spot as we are now.

Matchmaking is to blame 100% though, there was no reason to have Taira vs Royval and Moreno vs Albazi. Put Tatsuro and Amir against each other and you get a fresh contender, UFC is obsessed with having their rising contenders go through the toughest guys who don't have much in title hopes. DDP and Khamzat had to do that recently against Whittaker. It's like they want to force a passing of the torch instead of prioritizing fresh fights for champions.

 

[RockyLockridge]

think we all saw this coming

 

[Bubzeh]

Extremely one sided poll...

 

[JoeRowe]

Pretty sure UFC 315 is to be held in Canada

Moicano said it was going to be in Brazil. Ariel & someone from MMAFighting also said they've heard that as well.

You may very well be correct though since they're using Pereira & Pantoja.

 

[mister piscadinha]

Got robbed pretty badly against Albazi and the other was a title loss, division is in a weird spot due to Pantoja having beaten so many guys, and the younger contenders not being able to get over both Brandons.

Imo this is a better title shot than Erceg or Asakura were.

FW is a division that would benefit from "rigged" match making
taira would be a fresh contender, and his grappling style would be fireworks against pantoja
the ufc should have made that fight, instead of giving taira a tough test and eliminating him from title contention(for the moment)

 

[NoSmilez]

Mokaev needs to beg Dana for a spot in the UFC.

 

[CC27]

Interesting news for UFC 315 which is rumored for Brazil. No Pereira & no Pantoja.

I wonder if Charles vs Max II for the BMF belt will headline. Not sure what else they could use unless they change plans & don't go to Brazil.

Maybe I'm wrong here but thought next brazil event was Sao Paulo which is a fight night city not PPV. Would make more sense being a fight night like you said no Alex or Pantoja wtf could you even do with a PPV there?

 

[TITS]

Pantoja should just move up to 135 after he beats Pie again. There's nothing left for him at 125 except stale rematches. UFC flyweight division is like a PFL season.

 

[tornado362]

Moicano said it was going to be in Brazil. Ariel & someone from MMAFighting also said they've heard that as well.

You may very well be correct though since they're using Pereira & Pantoja.

I saw the announcement of a Canada card in may, and was supposed to be a PPV I think. Can’t exactly remember where I saw that.

My guess is they do Pena vs. Harrison, maybe Oliveira vs. Holloway as I believe their first fight was in Canada.

Second fight works for Brazil too.

Also with the activity of pereira, with a fast finish at 313, he could turn around for 315 if it is Brazil

 

[Tohm]

I think it's a pretty good fight, more interesting than some people think. I will not be surprised if KKF manages to beat Pantoja, I can see him keeping the fight standing and hurting Pantoja badly, Pantoja is very skilled and it could go his way too, pushing the fight to a decision or getting a submission from nowhere, but I don't think it will be that easy for Pantoja.