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#5 UFC Flyweight Division: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Askar Askarov
By anyone’s estimation, this is the second-most-important fight on the card. That’s because should anything happen to derail one of the main event fighters, Pantoja has been pegged as the man to step in to fight for the title.
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Why is that? Because to be quite frank, ‘The Cannibal’ is one of the most dangerous fighters in the entire UFC Flyweight division.
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A phenomenal grappler, Pantoja has a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and can count 8 submission wins on his ledger. But he’s not just a submission artist. ‘The Cannibal’ has devastatingly heavy hands and has knocked out both Matt Schnell and former title challenger Wilson Reis during his UFC career.
His only losses in the UFC have come at the hands of Figueiredo and Dustin Ortiz, who out-pointed him in a somewhat controversial call in 2018. Essentially, you could throw him into the title fight with either Benavidez or Figueiredo, and he’d have a chance.
Askarov is less heralded, but he’s still dangerous. ‘The Bullet’ is 11-0, with the only blemish on his record being a draw last year in the UFC with the tough Brandon Moreno. A wrestler by trade, Askarov’s biggest strengths are his takedown and his ground-and-pound game.
We saw those skills unleashed on veteran Tim Elliott at UFC 246, as he outworked the former title challenger and had him in trouble on numerous occasions. The Russian is a more than willing striker, although he’s wild – and that gave him difficulties against Moreno, who hurt him badly on the feet.
Basically, this should be an interesting test for Pantoja, who is by far the superior fighter technically. If Askarov can push a hectic pace and force ‘The Cannibal’ into a wild fight with trades and plenty of scrambles, there’s a chance he could wear him out.
I don’t see that happening, though. Pantoja has a lot of experience, has fought better opponents, and has dealt with opponents looking to take the fight to him before. The most likely outcome I feel is that Askarov attempts to wade in with strikes, and gets caught with something cleaner. From there ‘The Cannibal’ will either finish him with strikes – or latch onto a submission on the ground.
The Pick: Pantoja via second-round submission
