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ESPN
Dec 8, 2024, 02:30 AM ET
A 14-fight card at UFC 310 in Las Vegas was headlined by a unique flyweight title fight between UFC champion Alexandre Pantoja and former two-time RIZIN champion Kai Asakura. In the co-main event, Shavkat Rakhmonov earned his title shot against Belal Muhammad with his win over Ian Machado Garry. Can anyone hang with Pantoja? Will Rakhmonov be a favorite over Muhammad? To make sense of it all, Jeff Wagenheim, Brett Okamoto and Andreas Hale offer their final takeaways on an action-packed night of fights in Vegas.
Pantoja lacks peers, but flyweight GOAT?
Take a look at a list of reigning UFC champions, and pick out the three who have had the best run with the belt. Islam Makhachev probably will come to mind, since he has reigned at lightweight since 2022. The next champ to cite likely will be Alex Pereira, who has made three defenses at light heavyweight in barely a year.
After that? It’s got to be Alexandre Pantoja. The men’s flyweight titleholder’s second-round submission over Kai Asakura in the main event of UFC 310 enabled Pantoja to join Makhachev and Pereira as the only current champs with at least three defenses.
Pantoja, who is No. 5 in the ESPN pound-for-pound rankings, had to deal with Asakura’s wild aggression early on. However, once he figured out his challenger — which took maybe half a round — he took full control and cruised the rest of the way. By the time the first round ended, Pantoja had landed more than twice as many significant strikes as Asakura (31 to 15). And when Round 2 began and the champ initiated a clinch early on, he deftly used it to jump on Asakura’s back, take him down, lock in a body triangle and quickly secure a rear-naked choke that ended it at 2:05 of the round.
But Pantoja’s job was not done. He still had to do what champions are expected to do: Call out his next challenger. The problem is, Pantoja has beaten ESPN’s No. 2 flyweight, Brandon Royval, twice. He has defeated the No. 3 guy, Brandon Moreno, three times. Pantoja hasn’t faced Kai Kara-France, but the fourth-ranked 125-pounder has lost two of his last three fights. And No. 5 Muhammad Mokaev is nowhere to be found — the UFC let the undefeated Russian’s contract run out during the summer.
So Pantoja called out another guy who’s no longer in the UFC — the one whom he had just tied for most UFC wins at flyweight, with 13. “This is something for you, Demetrious Johnson,” he said in his postfight interview. “I’m the GOAT in here, and if you want to prove you’re the GOAT, come back.”
Johnson, who retired this year as a One Championship titlist, has nothing to prove to Pantoja or anyone else. “Mighty Mouse” ruled the UFC’s flyweight division from 2012 to 2018 — a reign of 2,142 days, second-longest in UFC history. Johnson made a record 11 consecutive title defenses. Pantoja is nowhere near being the 125-pound GOAT.
But Pantoja does rule today’s flyweight division to such an extent that the UFC had to reach across the Pacific Ocean to find a challenger, one who hadn’t even fought at 125 for over seven years. Now what? Can anyone who’s still in the UFC — or in all of MMA — compete with this guy? — Wagenheim
It’s a new era at welterweight
This has been coming — and after UFC 310, there’s no denying it. A new generation has taken over the division. For the longest, welterweight has been ruled by the same, small group of names. Kamaru Usman. Colby Covington. Leon Edwards. Jorge Masvidal. Stephen Thompson. That group had its time, and it was a very memorable era. But unless one of them can turn the clock back in a big way, it’s over. And even if Usman pulls off a meaningful upset in the near future, or Covington can find a way to stop Joaquin Buckley‘s momentum on Dec. 14, it’s still generally over. The torch has been passed.
Shavkat Rakhmonov is the real deal in every sense of the word, and Ian Machado Garry proved he is as well by taking two of five rounds against him on Saturday. My guess is these two will fight again in the future. And they’ll both eventually fight Jack Della Maddalena because he’s also a part of this new era. Saturday was a glimpse of the next five years at welterweight. Rakhmonov is only 30. Machado Garry is 27. Della Maddalena is 28. The aforementioned Buckley is 30. Carlos Prates, another name quickly asserting itself in the division, is 31. You almost feel a little bit for the defending champion, Belal Muhammad, because he will be tasked with taking on these young fighters, rather than benefit from big-name fights with the previous era.
This is nothing against any of the veterans, by the way. They’re all still capable of winning a big fight. But they also had their time, had their rivalries and all fought each other multiple times. It was a fantastic time for the welterweight division. Add Tyron Woodley to that mix as well, who fought Usman, Covington and Thompson twice. We got all of the fights we wanted out of that class. Now the spotlight turns to the one we’re seeing this month. — Okamoto
The widening class gap at heavyweight
Ciryl Gane won a narrow decision over Alexander Volkov, firmly entrenching the Frenchman as the UFC’s No. 2 ranked heavyweight. However, due to the controversial nature of the result, it only reaffirmed the gulf-wide gap between Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall and the rest of the heavyweights.
And that could present a real problem at some point.
Gane has won two consecutive fights since being steamrolled by Jon Jones in 2023. Yet, it’s hard to believe that Gane would present a real threat to either Jones or Aspinall, should he be next in line for a title opportunity. As for Volkov, while many thought he did enough to win the fight, the result is the result, and it is his second loss to Gane. Before losing to Gane at UFC 310, Volkov had won four consecutive fights, with his last loss coming in the first round to the current interim champion, Aspinall.
The division is in desperate need of new blood. Fortunately, with Jones competing once a year, they have time to build some new contenders. However, as it stands, the current crop of top 10 heavyweights doesn’t have a lot of positive momentum to create a credible opponent for whoever the undisputed champion ends up being in 2025.
There will need to be some turnover in the heavyweight division sooner rather than later if there is hope to close the gap because the current group is aging out. Unless a new contender bursts onto the scene, this will likely be a division ruled by either Jones or Aspinall for the next 24 months. — Hale
