UFC flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja spectacularly proved that he is the best in the world at UFC 310. After all, ‘The Cannibal’ beat newcomer and hyped Japanese phenom Kai Asakura in the second round to defend his title for the third time. And now, the Brazilian champ feels he is the greatest flyweight this sport has ever seen.

Former UFC champ Demetrious Johnson, of course, is widely considered the greatest MMA 125-pounder (and the overall GOAT by many), but Pantoja disagrees. Speaking to Joe Rogan in the post-fight octagon interview, Pantoja proclaimed himself the GOAT and challenged ‘DJ’ to prove him wrong, ‘come back’ to the UFC and fight him. The only issues are that Johnson is retired, and more importantly, signed to ‘ONE Championship’ at the moment.

Of course, coming back from retirement won’t be an issue for ‘DJ’. But the fact that he is still under contract with ONE Championship is a real problem and renders him unable to return to the UFC. On the other hand, X user Sean Sheehan had a bright idea- ‘DJ’ could just disregard his contract and try to fight in the UFC, as Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson had done almost a decade ago when he was signed with Bellator.

Of course, things didn’t turn out well for ‘Rampage’, who had to return to Bellator after the promotion filed and won an injunction against the MMA veteran for trying to return to the UFC. But apparently, Sheehan thinks things would be different in ‘DJ’s case. It is difficult to see how, since ONE hasn’t done anything that could be considered a breach of contract. On the other hand, there are easier ways to do this than ‘DJ’ breaking a contract.

Dana White reacts to Alexandre Pantoja’s callout of Demetrious Johnson

The very first question Dana White got at the post-UFC 310 presser was about Pantoja’s callout of Johnson. And the UFC CEO had an interesting, albeit unclear answer. “I don’t know. That’s interesting. Listen you know how I was the one beating the drum about Demetrious Johnson a long time ago. And yeah, I don’t know,” he told reporters.

Of course, the ‘DJ’ doesn’t have to break his ONE contract to fight in the UFC. If the two promotions want, they could well work something out to make Pantoja-Johnson, which would in fact be beneficial for both parties. After all, Pantoja has cleared out the division already, which is partly why the UFC had to find Asakura and pit him against the champ at UFC 310.

On the other hand, ‘Mighty Mouse’ is no longer fighting, in part because of a lack of big-name opponents, and thus not much use to ONE at the moment. But if ‘Mighty Mouse’ indeed faces ‘The Cannibal’, not only could the Singapore-based promotion make some good money off of loaning ‘DJ’ to the UFC, but also create some good headlines for ONE. What do you think about a possible Alexandre Pantoja vs. Demetrious Johnson fight?

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