Alexandre Pantoja On Return Timeline Amid Arm Injury Recovery

Alexandre Pantoja dropped his UFC flyweight title last December because of a dislocated arm, but now he has outlined his ideal return schedule.

The injury, which occurred just 26 seconds into the first round of the co-main event contest at UFC 323 in Las Vegas, came as a result of an awkward landing from a takedown by Joshua Van. Due to the injury, Van was crowned the new flyweight titleholder, and now has his first test as champion coming up on April 11th against Tatsuro Taira.

In a recent interview, Pantoja touched on, what seemed to be, a talked-about return plan for June, but also expressed that he feels good to go any time.

“The UFC asked me about the fight, but if I can remember, it was the last days of January,” Pantoja said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “In that time, two months ago, I said no, maybe I can fight in June. But after that, after one month, beginning of March, I think I’m ready to fight.

“If the guys asked me, maybe I’m ready to fight in Miami, but that’s OK. I can enjoy watching the fight. I think for that fight, it’s the real chance for Joshua Van to prove he’s the champion of the world. That’s the real fight for the belt because with me, he didn’t have a fight.”

“I’m not judging because that’s the dream for everybody,” Pantoja said. “It was in his destiny to have this belt, and now everybody has the opportunity to see if Joshua Van is the real champion of the world or if he just (won) a ticket from Willy Wonka. F*ck, man, that kid is very lucky.”

(h/t MMA Junkie)

Since winning the title in 2023 over Brandon Moreno, Pantoja defended the belt successfully in four consecutive outings, with the last two being highlight submission finishes of Kai Asakura and Kai Kara-France. With a win in his return to UFC action, it is expected that Pantoja will be in a prime position to attempt to regain the title, if he doesn’t come back to an immediate title shot that is.