Brendan Fitzgerald and Sayif Saud preview the UFC 301 main event between Undisputed Flyweight Champion Alexandre …
[Music] the flyweights are set to headline UFC 301 down in Rio D Janeiro when Alexandre Pantoja looks to take on the streaking Contender from Australia Steve EG here for the preview once again for’s MMA head coach safe saoud safe you got the second title defense for Alexandre Pantoja he’s doing it at home in Rio de Janeiro meanwhile Steve eg a huge opportunity to give Australia another champion you’re absolutely right this is a huge fight let’s talk about the champion the formidable an aandre Pantoja this guy is incredible he’s got this vaunted grappling game that he’s added this aggressive striking attack where he cuts off the Octagon this forces a lot of clinches where he’s also really really good at setting up takedowns when he gets guys to the ground he’s absolutely one of the very best on top or on the back he takes on the young upstart Steve EG this kid has only had a few fights in the UFC but he shines so brightly he’s so balanced a very crisp boxing attack he’s also very good in the clinch also very good on the ground of BJJ black belt he’s going to need that against Pantoja this kid’s just so well balanced and good everywhere that’s really what makes him dangerous and this is kind of a fight of two guys that are good everywhere one’s super aggressive and comes at you 100 miles an hour the other one’s kind of tactical and patient can’t wait to see how this fight plays out and because they’re good everywhere we’re going to dive into the game film they are perfect Fighters for this show UFC breakdown where we uh dive deep on the X’s and O’s and what makes him great we’ll start with the champion he has known more for his grappling but he does have eight wins in his career by knockout he hits hard for this weight class absolutely you know he’s known for that vaunted grappling but he’s grown in this aggressive striking he cuts guys off he puts combinations together he’s very good at cutting off the Octagon let’s take a look at some of the Striking here from Pantoja we’re going to start here and I and I put this in here with manell K because manell is looked at as one of the best strikers in the division and panto has already walked him back this is the beginning of the fight we can see now he’s already starting to get behind this line right and Pantoja is starting to push him okay and when a fighter starts pushing you towards the back of the cage or the fence you got to move so we see Pantoja here he starts moving manell back manel’s like all right I got a circle I don’t want to get up against the fence so we’re goingon to freeze this right here okay we see Pantoja looking right at him right and he’s got this fist right in front of him and it looks like he’s getting ready to throw a right hand in tight well Manel sees the same thing and we’re going to watch manel’s reaction his reaction with his head we see him bring his head backwards okay he starts bringing his head back right his foot doesn’t move at all but whoa what’s Pantoja doing he’s already changed lanes he’s looking down and this leg is in motion so what he does is he pushes guys back with his boxing and when they try to skate out our move he hammers the legs look at this like Bang not only does he Hammer the legs but he’s also going to go right to where he’s going so that pressure never relents okay you try to skate out he hits you and then he cuts you off to where you’re going and you’re going to see this we’re just going to move it really slowly he’s already walking to where manell is going okay so it’s kind of like you’re never escaping that pressure now here we see him again with in the same fight and I put this in here because he can also wait and counter right he’s not just a guy that’s got to come forward like a psycho he can fight and be a sniper and here we see Manel is going to come forward we’re going to see Pantoja he’s going to faint this little jab okay he faints the jab he gets manell the bite so here comes manell all right manell throws but you see Pantoja he’s just hanging out right here he’s got his hands up Manel misses the shot and now we see all this space in between him watch Pantoja right after the miss the nice pull jab boom gets it right in his face look at the right hand right behind it bam crushes him so just that little pull distance and then boom boom right over the top but we’re not done yet okay excellent right hand let’s look at the defense here Cape is a great Striker so he’s going to try to come right back we see cape look at this we’re gonna freeze this right here it doesn’t get any better than this I mean this is what you teach bicep to cheek so there’s no space look at this hand too I mean he’s in here super tight pulled back boom boom one two come back with really really tight defense watch Pantoja here block block now look at this shoulder roll let’s look at this freaking shoulder roll right here this guy’s looking like Floyd Mayweather here you never really see this out of Pantoja watch the distance control here nope you miss me so Pantoja man a slick Striker very technical and very very skilled right he can come forward but he can also fight you at distance or going back and finally here we see him against Matt Schnell and schnell’s coming downhill he’s an aggressive guy he’s coming right at Pantoja and he comes right at him boom huge overhand right sits him down and ends the fight let’s look at what happens here man this is this is crazy impressive here by Pantoja in such a tight space when you look at these guys they’re right on the a line okay directly on the a line all right right in front of each other schnell’s coming forward pantoja’s here he’s waiting for him as Schnell comes forward I want you to watch Pantoja get his head completely off the Center Line here let’s look at his head and we’re going to freeze this right here look at how high up he arcs this punch right as his head is drifting outside of the center and his foot is also going to end up drifting outside of the center so we’re just going to let it play just a little bit more as Pantoja lets him come forward bang I mean you just see the execution here look at where Pantoja got his head look at where his foot is this is the original line that Schnell stated on look at that execution right I mean kind of like a matador he let him come forward he got his head way offline lands the big shot so much experience from pania excellent striking game very dangerous and on the other side is Steve EG now he is known for his striking in his boxing that he’s put on display in the UFC he’s unbeaten so far in the Octagon largely because of his boxing absolutely this guy’s got really crisp boxing right he’s got a very good game of fainting and faking setting guys up gets him going high gets him going low also a good game so we’ll talk about that as well we don’t want to leave that out so let’s take a look at Steve EG so here he is against our guy Chanel again all right flyweights these are the top 10 guys we’re going to see a couple of them over and over again but we see him throw that jab and then go low okay and we want to stop this right let’s go back just a hair here let’s go back let’s look at schnell’s hands and let’s watch schnell’s eyes and the way that he reacts and let’s look at EG here as EG goes down low we’re going to see Schnell start to track him low okay now you see schnell’s eyes again right he’s kind of looking down but what started to happen was this hand that was up here man it starts trickling down and this is the exact reaction he wants to get him he wants to get him reacting down right getting those hands down just a little bit because EG had a plan I’m going to get that hand down just a little bit as you go to counter I’m going to land right over the top and you see he just f fits it right where that space was right where that space that opened up was he drops Chanel and we’re going to look at it one more time here he goes low and again we see the space right right over the top and that’s just that pinpoint detail he shown that power in that left hook put Schnell down ends that fight was a big moment for him and here he is again against Dvorak and this was his first fight dvorak’s been around for a long time as a season guy just the intelligence here so we’re going to watch him come forward okay then he stops dvor starts sliding out he’s like you know I’m not going to chase you and I want you to watch what he does here this guy’s so good at moving laterally and cutting off the Octagon okay I want you guys to watch his feet and how he just slides over he’s not going to pursue forward he’s going to pursue laterally look at that he wants to line up his right hand that’s one of his best weapons right that left hook and that right hand so look at how he’s comes over comes over comes over look at all those steps over right never forward constantly stepping doric’s trying to exit out of there right now we get back to this position dvor can’t just keep circling right so finally he’s like okay I got to kind of hold my ground and we’re gonna see EG here he’s gonna pump this front kick he does this a lot he uses that front kick a lot I expect him to use it against Pantoja and now he’s gonna throw this left hand to the body and the reason he’s doing this he doesn’t want Earth he doesn’t want Dvorak to again exit and you see Dvorak he knows he is like man I don’t want to be here I want to get outside of this angle right he’s cut me off and the reason why he wanted to get outside this angle he’s a smart guy because that big right hand is coming tags Dvorak with that right hand send him stumbling around reeling then you see him chasing again and now watch him he settles himself again he never gets crazy inside the Octagon this guy’s really intelligent again we’re going to see him come all the way over here and meet where Dvorak is going so let’s watch the feet of ERS as he starts sliding again never overp pursuing never overc committing this is going to be really really important against a fighter of pantoja’s level now let’s watch let’s watch his hand here there it is man guys aren’t really seeing this this little Leon Edwards throw the punch in front and again the proof is in the pudding he throws the punch and watch dvorak’s reaction I want you guys to watch what Dvorak does with his head we can see a fighter is fooled by his reaction you’re going to see dvor just going to kind of move over out of the way and then he’s going to start throwing a hook because he thinks all right I got out of the way here’s my counter but what he doesn’t see is this leg is in motion okay and it’s coming right for his Temple and he stands there and right exactly as he wanted to you’re going to see that smack him right in the back of the head so this kid is so good he knew right let me cut this off in the middle of that chaos let me throw this up here he’s going for a head kick this guy’s exciting right I mean he’s again he’s got the right hand in front we’re going to watch d’Or get out of the way and theor okay let me counter with a hook he’s not seeing this at all look at his eyes you know head kicks come and you’re not just standing there right but EG has that thing in motion and he’s gonna tag him with that baseball bat right to the back of the head so EG he’s exciting he’s always lining up those power shots whether it’s the left hand whether it’s the right hand whether it’s a kick this guy’s dangerous on the feet and he knows how to set up his power when they come together as we kind of continue breaking them down the clinch is going to be the leader to the takedown for Pantoja as a Jiu-Jitsu guy how does he do in the clinch against a guy like ERS this is going to be so big in this fight the clinch the fense game is going to be huge Pantoja is so good at transitioning from strikes to takedowns he creates chaos and scrambles and all of a sudden he’s on your back and you’re like whoa what happened um he’s a master at this so here he’s against Roy Valen and we’re going to see here you know they’re just exchanging here’s a kick now here’s a big hook he throws the punch but let’s look at how opportunistic panto is he’s like let me grab the head here I’m in close he grabs the head and we’re going to see him grab the tricep right here this is big so he’s got the tricep and he’s got Roy Val his head right and he’s just gonna continue to steer Roy Val here you’re gonna see him kind of steer he’s gonna land a big knee boom there’s one he’s pulling him down and you can see this right here he’s pulling Royal downward right and he’s got that tricep grip too and he’s he’s pulling him down and at the same time he’s bringing these things up so rival’s thinking what I got to go back I got to get my head up I got to get out of here and you can see from his positioning with his feet he’s not thinking about striking he’s even got his feet together he’s just thinking about bailing out this is exactly what Pantoja wants right once he starts to bail out and really push up you see Roy Val working hard Pantoja is gonna release right you’re going up I’m going down and he’s going to connect his hands right here and once the hands are connected it’s over man it’s done guys once you get the hands connected under the butt and you’re going to see this lock right here that he has and Ral doesn’t have time to get underneath this underhook is so low he’s going to get the Tak down and that’s when he starts his Relentless Pursuit right passing exhausting guy so all this starts in the clinch all this chaos he creates these scrambles and he gets these takedowns or he lands great strikes and here we see him with Alex Perez and they’re exchanging but again we’re going to see him he’s going to go to grab the head right now he’s got the head control so we see the head control on Alex Perez and we see this knee is in motion so he lands this big knee on Alex he hits Alex with that big knee to the sternum and they start exchanging knees and then we’re going to see him Shake him off and we see Pantoja he’s gonna start attacking for this body lock right here and Alex Perez is a good wrestler so he starts to sniff it out but here goes this scramble so we see panoi kind of gets this little trip and then they stop right here let’s back it up a little bit all right so not a clean taked down and you see Perez he’s like all right he’s got a post he’s thinking to himself I just got to get up right I gotta get out of here but look at Pantoja man right he’s like loading loading that’s all he needs and Pantoja misses no opportunities he’s going to get right on the back here just like that before Perez even gets a chance to stand up and like I said everybody’s surprised even Megan o be surprised right I mean how quickly he did that okay he’s on the back and not only he he on the back he’s got both hooks in and now he’s got the body triangle and he’s starting to Great Vine the foot behind the knee he’s got the lock I mean Perez didn’t even get taken down man he just kind of stumbled this guy creates chaos in these moments right and now you’re going to see he’s going to go full crank mode here and he’s using that fulcrum point right he’s using this as a fulcrum point so much pressure across the body so much pressure and what a squeeze this guy has too Pantoja from all the years of grappling and that’s the end of the fight so Pantoja will create these clinch situations and these grappling situations and he’ll find ways to win lastly we want to put this in here ERS has got a great fence game we’re going to talk about it don’t be surprised if this guy tries to take Pantoja down the only losses Pantoja has are by getting out wrestled oddly enough even with his ground game game so Wilson Hayes was a great Grappler back in the day in the UFC and panto has been around a while so we use this we see the overhook here from Pantoja right and we see his ability here I just want you to watch how loose he is he’s so loose here he keeps that post right he’s just hanging out and we see he’s super relaxed he almost looks like a striker right not like a guy who’s frantic to get on the ground he’s so comfortable here and this is super impressive Wilson hay is going to sweep the leg but just look at panoa I mean he keeps his foot down he’s already thinking about going up and this is the difference right here this is the difference between Champions he won’t even allow himself to be held down look he’s already back up again now again he’s back up on this wizer so this is going to be a huge battle here can Pantoja stay off the fence and stay upright and keep ERS actually off of him because EG’s a big body so I’m really really want to see how that goes down between the two and then it begs the question how’s ERS going to handle the clinch on the other side because he’s well-rounded as we said at the top of the show man as boring as this is like this guy’s fence game as a coach is like incredible right he’s so good at the fundamentals here with control and all the little small battles that happen he’s just so good at the basics so we see right here like this is Kasa who’s a very good Grappler I’ve seen this kid he’s a tank he’s very good we see the risk control right this is the risk battle that’s always going on but Ur got that big old Noggin right I mean he’s so good at using this head for head control I mean he’s always winning the head battle and we always say the head is like an arm I mean you’ve got to use it to control the upper body and EG does such a good job there so we’re going to see him he’s going to break this risk control he’s got an underhook on the other side we’re going to watch him break the risk control here he’s going to start punching right so he starts winning this battle here okay and then they keep on fighting for the rist Costa is not going to let him have it but look at EG his head is so low and now we’re gonna see Costa here he goes to Pummel well this changes everything right once you Pummel inside and you get underhook looks Everything Changes then you can kind of peel me off the cage watch this move here by ersc look again he gets his head even lower okay to try to get that get rid of that underhook and you’re going to see what he does here this is so smart he’s going to go to the bicep control and he’s pushing him back right he lands the knee and then we’re going to see what he does with this arm right here so he’s got the control Point here watch what he does with this he lost the underhook so is going to get rid of that and he’s going to get a real deep whizard you see how he’s get that real deep wizer on that side we see it right here he’s got that whole arm now wrapped inside of his arm and what he’s doing is he’s controlling that side and this side I’m GNA wrap this arm and not let you lift that underhook and I’m going to control your other side and again when his head is lower he wins that battle so technical stuff not really that pretty and not really that cool but you see but this is what wins fights this underhook can’t raise he’s got that overhook and he’s controlling that bicep so him and CA keep going and K’s like you know what man I’m feeling this arm bar look at the head control again we see him start going to work and he’s got it and he goes for it and this arm is in there the reason we put that in is panto is so good on the ground you never know but just watch how calm this kid is eg he’s just calm just pulls it out and again watch him he’s on the head and now look at the position he’s won the position he’s here his head is low and he’s got the control again so this guy just like follows the rules man he’s always winning positions and he’s always one step ahead here he’s against Dvorak and again now this is him offensively wrestling we’re going to see him attacking the legs here trying to get these reaps and these takedowns trying to get back control and even if he doesn’t get it again these are little things look at how he puts all of his weight what look at this this sucks for him his legs are up he’s bent over over all this weight is coming down compressing his body and this exhausts you you right and these are the little things that you see a fighter do sometimes guys just stand up it’s like no man you have the waist but give him a lot of pressure right these are the things that make people tired again leaning using that weight and a kid’s big you know he’s 5’8 5’9 he’s a bigger kid I look for EG to use this fence game and really try to wear down Pantoja will he be successful I don’t know and that begs a question of what we’re going into next love the idea of fight fans that like this show at their watch parties impressing their friends with fence game because you brought it down take a look at his fence important here all right now we get to the grappling this is where Pantoja really shines and it’s what allows him to be a pretty reckless and dangerous Striker because if you go down he’s good there too you’re absolutely he’s just one of the very best we’ve ever seen in the flyweight division um on the ground his top control smothering his back control I mean he’ll finish you at any minute he’s so good at manipulating the choke the guy is so dangerous here on the ground and let’s take a look and he just finds the way so here he is against Brandon Moreno and this was an absolute War their last fight and we see Brandon is gonna duck under this and he was hitting Pantoja with his elbows he had broken his hand and we see Pantoja Pantoja when he gets his mind made up on something he doesn’t care we’re going to see this elbow right off the break Boom Big elbow look at what Pantoja does he uses that that moment of getting hit and just rolls with it and what he gets right in on the legs right he doesn’t even think about oh I’m getting hit I need a block when he goes in charge mode That’s it man he sees red and he gets these takedowns we see him run the legs here at Brandon and man this is just the impressive stuff that wins fights right and we see Brandon kind of trying to turn in and create a scramble right here with this and we’re going to see uh Pantoja just win here and then again now you’re going to have all that ground control right there and that’s how he controls these rounds and here he is again in this fight with Brandon and this is the same situation Brandon hits him with that elbow that lead elbow but look at Pantoja driving to the fence and here’s where he’s so good you do not want to get here with Alexandre Pantoja he’s so good at hooking that leg inside getting this back control again we talked about it being like a sticker on your guy right I mean just stuck on top of him and again we see Brandon trying to work and fight the hands panto is bleeding right he’s gotten busted up but when ever he needs these Tak Downs he’s got him and now he’s on the back and now you’re dealing with his back control and you’re trying not to get choked so Pantoja can always lean on that wrestling and create those scrambles lastly here we see him against Brandon Roy valal he’s got the lock right he’s working his game Royal is doing a good job he’s tall he’s kind of fighting the hands and you see Pantoja he’s GNA get slick here he’s going to kick the leg out boom there’s that leg kick now he’s down we’re going to freeze this right here let’s just talk about this this is some of the best Jiu-Jitsu you’ll see especially in the in MMA and especially noi so we have no hooks right here okay we have no hooks so when we don’t have hooks what we want to do is we want to underhook the guy and hold him to us so that way his back is to our chest since we have no leg control we have to make sure we control the upper body so that’s what we do it’s like a reverse backpack so I’m trying to hold your shoulders I’m trying to keep you tight so we see Pantoja has no hooks and we’re just going to break this down so he’s got no hooks he keeps that control once he throws this hook in he starts to take this hand out okay so he’s got the hook on that side and he can take that out and start going to a seat Bel you’re going to see he’s going to go over the top now because the hook is controlling the bottom so as the hook controls the bottom right this controls the top okay he still keeps this here because he doesn’t have a hook on that side all right well you’re a pretty smart guy I think you know what’s about to happen so he holds that he holds that he holds that and Roy Val is like oh man he got a hook Roy Val knows he gets that seat belt now watch the dexterity in this leg like he still doesn’t have that hook ral’s blocking like he knows what he’s doing he’s trying to get his shoulders back he’s trying to get back here get shoulders back you know not allow that hook sit back create a scramble this just is a Mastery level watch Pantoja here watch the dexterity in this leg right this is like a BJ pen type of dexterity he’s going to take this leg he’s going to bring it all the way up and he’s going to fit it and you look at this there’s really no space here the hands are here he’s going to fit it right in there man and this is just that Mastery level and so now he’s got both hooks he’s got the seat belt you see he doesn’t have the reverse backpack grip I’ve got my seat belt I got both Hooks and this is what Pantoja does so now he’s got your back you know you were doing all the right things trying to get shoulders out and now he starts attacking he’s so good at hand fighting now he’s got the body triangle and Roy Val again he’s fighting hands coach is yelling at him you know uh fight the hands fight the hands but here it comes once he gets that grip and he’s got this figure four lock look at Roy Val’s body he starts twerking on the body and once this guy connects his hands man it’s something fierce we saw it with the Perez fight he’s just going to keep adjusting he keeps switching the grip from short choke to a full choke and again we see this torque and the dexterity cuz usually that puts pressure on that ankle and guys it hurts him not panta right he’s got the short choke here and he’s underneath the neck and that’s all she wrote for Roy Val so this is the danger with Pantoja you can know everything that you’re supposed to on the ground he will still find a way to finish you from the back one of the best there is at flyweight and now we switch back to the Steve ver egg side he’s known for his boxing and his technique there on the feet he has more submissions than he does Knockouts and his MMA career and that’s the big question how does he handle the grappling attack with one of his own you’re absolutely right Brendon this guy started with as a Jiu-Jitsu guy right and he is a submission guy okay and he’s very good he’s a BJJ black belt a successful uh Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor as well and he shown Us in his time in the Octagon his ability to get up with his guard his active guard and his ability to control guys like Kasa who are really good Grapplers so he’s going to need every bit of that to go against the champion here so here we see Costa shooting this shot and this is so good right here this is such good defense man I love this so we see Costa he’s trying to flare him and ERS kind of had that little whizard and Kasa you know can’t quite make the corner but Watch What Happens here once we stop here so we see right away number one ERS is on the head pushing the weight down which is exactly what you want Costa still has his leg so he’s trying to limp that leg out right but he’s driving that head down he’s putting all of his weight again what completely down on Costa so Costa can’t drive up right and you want to you want to shove that head down as far as you can cost it like I told you the guy’s at tank so he’s like man I’m too strong for that he starts to work his way up R like this guy’s strong because I mean he’s he’s probing to put all of his weight on him look he’s trying to get there but kasa’s big strong kid so Kasa starts to get up now let’s watch the the fight IQ the intelligence of this kid he’s like uh you know what since you’re going to get up I’m just going to grab your ankle so now Costa as he’s trying to pull up EG is anchoring himself on his ankle so he’s got double that load right this is so intelligent by this kid well Kasa is really strong so he keeps on building and let me find another handle let me grab the back of your knee this is all just right smart okay he’s constantly thinking in there Kasa is still trying to build up but we see he’s kind of stopped that taked down now I want you to watch this leg right here this leg is going to go from the inside now on the single he’s got enough balance and he stopped the momentum to get on the outside once you get it on the outside you can kind of use it as a counter pressure right and now you’ve kind of got a good base you’re counter pressuring off that leg and you’ve got a good base he’s still got a hold of this he gets so confident though now he’s GNA kind of stop that Tak down now there’s no momentum now he goes to the wrist okay so he systematically just stopped this Tak down and kept that pressure on Costa who’s a good Grappler and then eventually he’s so confident in this position with his balance here they come here come the big elbows to the head so this is something that he could definitely be in with Pantoja will he be confident enough to throw elbows there and stay in that position I don’t know here he is again on the ground we can’t act like this guy’s not going to hit the mat he definitely might he might not but we’ve got to go over it right so he’s so good at using these butterflies and you’re going to see them they’re going to be inside of the thighs he’s going to get his feet inside of the thighs of Costa and he’s going to elevate them he’s going to lift them right and he’s going to use this elevation to create a scramble we’re going to see this he’s holding him here holding that posture down he’s going to elevate the bottom half of his body upwards right by holding him in position lifting his legs and here we go we’re going to see the elevation and C is going to try to pass here because that’s what you do when a guy tries to elevate you so now here comes the scramble he’s gonna need that ability to get off of his back against a guy like Pantoja now here he is on top and again we talked about Costa skill now he’s going to go full Mount and look at this right I’mma push your head all the way down to the ground and here come the strikes I mean Super aggressive right when he takes the mount he goes to work we see him here come the big shots are you turn over right you turn over right when you turn over and I want to talk about this he isn’t even all the way over he still has this post I love this attack in the neck right you see same thing as Pantoja they’re they’re very similar Costa isn’t even over but watch this attack and man he gets it tight right here so even though he’s on the side he just says I’m going for it he’s so aggressive in all these moments and again Costa is a very good Jiu-Jitsu black belt so we see EG on top he is no punk when it comes to the ground game his Jiu-Jitsu is very good can he hang with Pantoja a totally different question but we’ll see yeah and what a setting for him to do it in in a championship fight in Brazil if he can get it done with his Jiu-Jitsu we’ll go x-factors and now we’ll start with the Challenger Steve EG who’s unbeaten in the UFC and getting a huge opportunity with where he is in the rankings but a lot of people think he has the skills to pull off what would be an upset it’s it’s absolutely right I mean you know this kid’s got three fights and everybody’s talking about it but you know he’s new blood in the division you know and and and that’s what Mick mayard is trying to do right this kid has shown a kind of balance that is just different his fight I for him to get dropped in with Dvorak and beat him the way he did and just fight these guys that are ranked he just looks so calm right he’s the New Breed these guys coming up the younger guys they’re so polished because that’s all they know they’ve grown up learning MMA not Jiu-Jitsu and then this and that you just got to give these guys credit right and his team comes from a small team in Perth he’s been with these guys his whole life these guys are focused on this kid and this kid’s dangerous so it’s his fight IQ and his back B that make him so dangerous so let’s just take a look at exactly what we’re talking about and this is what’s allowed him to have so much success so again we talk about his ability to track guys he loves to keep guys where right in the middle he’s a little bit different he likes to keep them right in front of that right hand right or that left hook he wants to keep him kind of right in the center uh he’s got a 6 68 inch reach and so does Pantoja so it’s going to be interesting but I think the reason why let’s watch this setup so let’s watch the lead hand here of EG we’re going to see him he’s going to faint that jab which he just did and he got a little reaction out of CA now he is going to act like he’s going to go to the body let’s freeze it right there so he throws this little body jab and we see Costa’s hand go from here to here he kind of goes to check it well that’s all he needed right watch the shot right here right over the top the right hand right when the hand goes down lean too so it just shows the intelligence I’m poking at you once I get the reaction I’m right over the top same as the Schnell fight right calculated violence Nails him with that right hand but we’re not done so there’s the right hand CA comes in on the shot right a pretty good shot uh a good reactive shot look at the reaction from this kid and again we talk about all the details he’s already on that leg he’s already kind of flipping him over he reacted to a beautiful right hand a beautiful sprawl and now now he’s not done he stuff the take down and he’s like you know what I’m gonna go right to mount I mean this just shows a complete fighter here faint and fake hit that right hand stuff the wrestling now I’m on the ground and I’m dominating so this guy’s really good now he’s pushing the head down he’s already going to work things got so ugly for Costa so fast there it’s just an example of how good he is and finally I want you to look at the footwork here of this kid and he’s against the fence but he will never allow himself to get trapped and the reason he’s so good at moving side to side is cuz he’s so good at cutting people off so he understands what he doesn’t want to happen let’s look at the movement here from him he’s left he’s right and then again okay he’s facing him right he’s looking at him he’s continuously moved off the fence watch this head movement here from IG even when he stops to throw in the pocket watch where he puts his head he gets it way offline man it’s a good thing he got it offline that punch was coming right for his head so again this kid so intelligent constantly making the right read and in real time doing the right thing so there’s one he moves his head now he’s out of there oh let me get out of that you’re not going to get me there’s the front kick look at all these missed punches and now again he’s reset the middle so this kid is so smart and so relaxed inside the Octagon man that’s what makes him scary right there’s not a position where he looks uncomfortable and in 25 minutes a whole lot can happen What will happen in the fourth and fifth round is really the question for me you know he only has 13 fights and he is fighting Pantoja Who has 32 fights and we’re going to get into that next yeah and and you mentioned the the setting of Pantoja going 25 minutes he’s done that with a championship belt on the line in each of his last two fights he won it he defended it against Brandon royval first appearance of 2024 for Pantoja what’s the X Factor here as he fights at home in Brazil I mean just the pace and the pressure is unlike anybody else at flyweight you know and and when you deal with this guy you just got to know that that this guy he seems like he has a lull like he’s kind of tired and then he just Powers up out of nowhere I mean the will of this man is something that needs to be considered here 32 Pro fights now he’s got the experience as well never been finished right the only times he’s ever lost was from grappling getting taken down so again don’t be surprised but this guy will Turbo it up and he’ll just find a way to win and he’s got all the skills to do it so this just makes him so scary to deal with and when he’s focused like this I mean he’s one of the very best that we have um in the UFC and I don’t think he gets enough credit for how dangerous he is and so let’s just cue this up here so we know Ry valal is a striker we know he wants to move we know you know their game plan is like you got to get distance you got to stay away look at Pantoja like just let’s watch the way he does this all right he cuts guys off man like there is just no tomorrow I mean slowing it down would be a disservice he’s right in Kick Kick I’m right in your face you’re not going to get away and we’re going to stop it right here cuz he does this unique thing where he’ll go here from Orthodox and he’ll switch to Southpaw okay can I use it really fast so step over here he’s doing this and guys are going to what they’re going to try to exit out so he’ll step to Southpaw and then he throws these hooks to kind of try to consolidate them and then they run out of real estate and he shoots the takedown and this is exactly what’s going to happen right here we’re going to see him he’s going to switch to that there’s that double hook and Roy Val is just backing up like what what’s happening right because you’re seeing one look and then he goes turbo button the other way and he starts throwing that right hook and he gets to this position over and over again and this is the big cage he just knows how to cut off the Octagon so that’s going to be a real battle between him and EG and here we go here we see him again against Wilson haste and we talk about Pantoja exploding right he’ll lull and then he’ll explode and it just seems like it comes out of nowhere and we’ve seen it now in these multiple title fights and here he is again with with an explosion he’s in front of Wilson haaste and we see him just explode into this right hand and just tag him right drops some but that’s not the impressive part it’s the ground and pound right the relentlessness the positions here Wilson haste is good look at the shin position we’re going to see Wilson Haye try to come underneath he’s going to step right outside of that right he’s so good on the ground and so and understands his position so well that if he gets you hurt on the ground he can either submit you or he can TK you really really quickly so Pantoja has that turbo button man and he will hit it yeah not many flyweights can boast the finishing rate he’s got 18 finishes and how well-rounded he is for a submission guy 10 wins by Tapout eight wins by knockout pjo hits really hard uh now let’s go to Kea Victory I’ll hit that for you and we’ll start with the champion what does pantan need to do to keep that belt he’s got a pressure from the start right he can’t let this ersa kid get his rhythm and his pace and get comfortable and start cutting him off and start setting up his his strikes right or his wrestling so he’s such a pressure fighter but we know ersag and his team are going to be ready for that but Pantoja has shown like you said two five round fights the ability to kind of keep turning it on the fight was on the line in the fifth round against Brandon Moreno and he just got that takedown right he got that position so he’s shown us that will and that ability so pressure from the start he’s also got to dominate The Crown positions we we touched on it the only losses he has right askarov Dustin Ortiz back in the day he got out wrestled he would get outp positioned he would be on his back for kind of longer periods of time so he’s got to dominate those ground positions have that top control not ever allow ersc to kind of hold him down and slow down the fight lastly he cannot get Reckless man people love watching this guy because of that you know that pace right that Relentless he just comes out like a bat out of hell right can’t do that against EG you know I see EG trying to do what he did with Schnell getting the head way off center throwing those overhands or throwing the uppercuts or the knees team is going to try to catch pantan making some mistakes coming forward like that so he’s got to be really really careful in those exchanges we’ll switch to ur who comes in looking to pull the upset and give Australia another belt that’s right this kid I think he’s got to keep it standing early okay and the reason why I say that is he’s got a really good striking attack they have the same reach but he’s very comfortable there kanta does make some mistakes sometimes defensively can he expose those mistakes can he hurt Pantoja possibly and slow him down or cut him and kind of change the fight right we know how good Pantoja is on the ground and he is too but in the beginning I think he should try to keep it standing and really see what he can produce second he’s got to keep his back off the fence right we we talked about pantoja’s ability to take the back against the cage and also just his ability to get guys down in these clinch positions he cannot lose rounds from those dominant positions or even having his back against the fence this is what he likes to do to people he likes to put their back against the fence so again not the most most exciting thing but this is going to be a big part of the fight and lastly he’s got to win the scrambles man he cannot end up on bottom or get his back taken that threat of Choke with Pantoja is always there he’s so high level we don’t know how this kid’s going to handle the lights he’s handled them pretty good but we’re talking about a 25 minute five round fight in Rio with the chant going on I know what it feels like you know what I mean like he’s got to be ready for that moment and he’s got to win these scrambles and the real key point is can he get on top of Pantoja and hold those positions and wear him out that’s going to be where we’re like oh wait a minute yeah and possibly win a decision in this fight if he can’t hurt him with that knockout power with the left F or the right hand huge turning point for the flyweight division as Alexandre panta looks to add to his championship Legacy all the attention is going to be on him this time as a headliner at home in Rio de Janeiro where Steve EG does he bring the belt back to Perth Western Australia where the Octagon will make its way down under later this year safe sa excellent job on the preview as always I’m Brandon Fitzgerald enjoy UFC 301 thanks for watching UFC breakdown