Alexandre Pantoja would have fought Sean O’Malley at 135 pounds “but with Merab it’s different”

Alexandre Pantoja would have been open to attempting a path to becoming a two-division UFC champion if Sean O’Malley held bantamweight gold, but the current titleholder at 135 pounds gives him some pause. That combatant in question is Merab Dvalishvili, who beat the aforementioned O’Malley twice. The Georgian will also defend his title the same night that Pantoja will.

The Brazilian standout will look to retain his flyweight crown against the surging Joshua Van while Dvalishvili will defend his bantamweight belt against former UFC kingpin at 135 pounds, Petr Yan in a rematch set for UFC 323 on December 6th.

Speaking with TMZ Sports ahead of his next championship test as the 125-pound champion, with an excerpt from the interview posted to X account @RedCorner_MMA, Pantoja said,

“When you talk about ten pounds, to my division, to flyweight to the bantamweight, it’s huge compared. If you see Weili Zhang vs Valentina [Shevchenko], you can see the difference about the size. Of course when you have Islam Makhachev go from 155 to 170 yes, you can see it’s not too much difference. Of course, Islam need to lose a lot of weight to make 155.”

“But ten pounds for me is much more than other guys. But Merab, one of the best, one of the pound for pound [top fighters]. I think if O’Malley got the belt, I’m gonna say hey, I’m ready to go, but with Merab it’s different… Maybe if he [Merab] want to come to 125, it’s gonna be better for me.”

Alexandre Pantoja and Merab Dvalishvili both enter as sizable favorites for UFC 323

Alexandre Pantoja and Merab Dvalishvili have asserted their dominance as champions in their respective weight categories with that being reflected in oddsmaker perceptions heading into this weekend.

In what may be the promotion’s last pay-per-view ever as they head into the 2026 Paramount deal, Dvalishvili enters at -500 against the +300 Yan.

For Pantoja, he will enter this defense against Van as the favoured fighter with Pantoja coming in at -265 with both of these UFC 323 lines coming from Fan Duel.