Perez certainly went from title challenger to forgotten man in
record time. An early alum of Dana White’s Contender Series, Perez
made his UFC debut in 2017 and slowly marched up the ranks with a
powerful and pressure-heavy style, eventually earning a title shot
at flyweight champion Deiveson
Figueiredo in 2020. The fight itself was not anything
much—Figueiredo scored a submission in just under two minutes—and
then Perez immediately became an afterthought. Within days,
Figueiredo was already booked for a title fight three weeks later
against Brandon
Moreno, setting the stage for the trilogy that would span over
a year afterwards. Compounding the situation, Perez was kept out of
action due to injuries, weight misses and repeated attempts to book
a cursed pairing with Matt
Schnell that constantly fell through. Over a year and a half
later, Perez looks to rebound against Pantoja. Decorated prior to
his own UFC debut in 2017, Brazil’s “Cannibal” consistently brought
violence and excitement to his fights but struggled to get over the
hump into the title picture until 2021. When Moreno won the title,
Pantoja seemed set as top contender—he beat Moreno on “The Ultimate
Fighter” in 2016 and again in a 2018 fight—but an injury took him
out of the matchup and, once everything settled, somehow left him
as the odd man out at the top of the division. Pantoja can still
unlock his inner madman when pressed, but he has done a much better
job of controlling himself in recent fights, which should serve him
well in this clash. As someone who has split his time between
flyweight and bantamweight, Perez tends towards the plodding but
powerful side. With Pantoja now unlikely to throw himself into
danger or a takedown, the Brazilian should be able to counter Perez
and clip him at a much higher pace without having much fear of what
comes his way. Pantoja’s speed and aggression appear to be a bad
mix for Perez. The pick is Pantoja via clear decision.
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