Demetrious Johnson breaks silence after being called out by Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 310
12/08/2024 05:15 AM
Alexandre Pantoja may have to look elsewhere for an opponent after he called out Demetrious Johnson for a comeback fight.
The UFC flyweight champion defeated Kai Asakura at UFC 310 on Saturday night, and immediately called out one of the greatest fighters in the sport’s history. Johnson retired earlier this year after a stint at ONE Championship, where he held gold at bantamweight.
Pantoja has already seemingly cleaned out the 125lb division, with Asakura emerging as an opponent having come in from RIZIN without so much as one UFC fight. And he now wants to take on the best to ever do it and really cement his legacy.
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Alexandre Pantoja calls out Demetrious Johnson after UFC 310 win
Following his win at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Alexandre Pantoja spoke with Joe Rogan in the octagon about his next plans. It seemed that his most likely option was number one contender Brandon Royval.
However, he has already defeated Royval twice, stopping him in 2021 before winning a five round decision the second time out. And the Brazilian instead chose another option out of left field during his callouts.
“There is a special fighter who doesn’t fight no more,” he told Rogan. “But this is something I have to say to you Demetrious Johnson. I’m the GOAT here, if you want to prove you’re the GOAT, come back!”
Dana White reacts to Alexandre Pantoja’s callout
Johnson left the UFC in 2019 as part of an unprecedented trade deal with ONE Championship. He headed to Asia while Ben Askren came the other way, and became one of the most notorious welterweights in recent memory.
Since heading to ONE, Johnson has had decent success, but called it a day on his career on September 6 in Colorado. When it comes to making him one last fight in the UFC, Dana White is the man who could make it happen, and he did not seem opposed to the idea during his post-fight press conference.
“I don’t know,” he replied when asked if he would entertain the idea of one last fight for the legendary former champion. “That’s interesting. Listen, I was the one beating the drum about Demetrious Johnson a long time ago, so yeah, I don’t know.”
Demetrious Johnson turns down callout for UFC return
Of course, fans were waiting on social media to see how ‘Mighty Mouse’ would react to the callout. His retirement in September seemed abrupt, but at the same time his emotional speech seemed sincere and he has since built an entire career for himself as an analyst and streamer online.
And it appears that he isn’t all too interested in making a comeback to face Pantoja. He declared that he has already turned down a deal worth seven figures for one more fight.
Taking to X, Johnson wrote: “Guys I got offered 2 million dollars to fight!! I turned it down I don't care to fight anymore YouTube video dropping soon.”
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