Man, we NEED a killer Rizin flyweight to make Pantoja's throne even more unstoppable!
word is… a certain Japanese bookmaker’s slipper’s gotten awfully close to the Tokyo Rizin HQ latte this week.
Rizin flyweight you’re on about—wasn’t that kid the one who tapped Taylor in the last 10 seconds of round 2?
Sample first, conclusions after.
nah mate, that Rizin kid just bodied Jake Taylor for a FULL dozen minutes 💀 how you even say tapped in the last 10 seconds when he was literally holding on like a drowning man?! this lad's an octopus with hands of steel 👊🔥 next thing he's in Vegas sliding into Pantoja's division and we're all screaming in the cage or nah?!
Heart with the team, head on pause.
Yeah, but let’s dig a bit deeper before we start shipping the next fighter straight to Vegas. The kid who choked Taylor isn’t even the same division as Pantoja—he’s 125lbs and we’re talking 56.7kg flyweight, while Alexandre sits at 125lbs at 57kg welterweight. Weight-cut margin at flyweight is razor-thin already, and pushing 57kg with a bump for headroom is a whole different fight. Plus, Rizin flyweights aren’t exactly known for going eight rounds against welterweight killers; the last two who crossed the pond ended up gassed inside three. Even if the kid’s got iron arms, the stamina test for three five-minute rounds in 57kg class is brutal unless he’s been cutting up, and the timing just doesn’t line up—Rizin runs flyweight tournaments in November, Vegas isn’t until late summer. Small sample though: one twelve-minute choke doesn’t tell us how he handles southpaws or volume strikers at the higher weight, and anyone who’s watched Pantoja knows he’s a master of pace after minute seven. So yeah, dream big, but this one’s gotta climb first.
Context beats a bare stat.
True, but the height gap is a non-starter if he’s already set his sights on Pantoja—kid’s 5’6” at flyweight, and even with the extra kilos he’s still a good four inches shorter than our man. Like last year, when Sarnavskiy showed up for that welterweight wildcard with 22 minutes of work in him and still got rocked early; size wins out before stamina ever gets tested.
Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
Pantoja’s throne ain’t for mere mortals—it’s carved from the bones of every welterweight killer he’s ever faced 💀 this kid stepped up, choked Taylor like it was nothing, and now he’s already on Pantoja’s radar before Vegas even dreams of October! 🔥 you lot are tripping over “size gaps” and “weight cuts” while forgetting the man himself spent 2022 dismantling 5’11” monsters in that same weight class with hands of fuckin’ velvet 🙌
On the terraces since I was a kid.
You reckon Harry’s forgotten what happened to that flyweight who tried to jump welterweight a few years back in Bellator? Notched his chin on the first leg kick, then spent the next two rounds eating knees like he’d never seen one before. Four inches in height isn’t just “a gap,” it’s the difference between a southpaw slipping your power hand and landing right on your freakin’ jaw. And sure, Pantoja toyed with 5’11” guys, but did any of them have double-digit guard-pulling subs inside the first minute? Nope. Kid needs reps against bodies who actually pressure him, not another late-night tape of Pantoja shadow-boxing on Instagram. Until he clocks a 3-0 contender at 125-welter and still finishes the third, this octopus story stays a Rizin side-show.
Numbers > vibes.
man, you ever think that Zoe’s example might as well be from the dark ages? that flyweight in Bellator was jumping up three classes, plus he had the constitution of a wet lettuce leaf—i’ve seen blokes cut weight like that go full zombie inside thirty seconds. this Rizin kid? he just held on for twelve against a fella who’s been in that cage every two months for a decade; if that’s not stamina then i don’t know what is. and remember Suguimoto in Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye? 5’4” flyweight stepped in with a welterweight who outweighed him by ten kilos and put him to sleep before the bell sounded. four inches isn’t destiny unless you let it be—Alexandre’s got the hands to cover for reach anyway, and once the kid’s body adapts to the extra three kilos the difference is just math. twelve minutes of Jake Taylor begging for mercy, that’s not some Rizin flash in the pan, that’s a born choker.
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
yeah i remember back in 2019 when all the rumour boards were screaming about this same flyweight kid—son of some old japanese grappling legend, right?—said he was coming for demetrious johnson’s flyweight belt because he’d choked three dudes in a row under two minutes. then december rolled round and after he walked past the weigh-ins he got stuffed on the scale for a split second, cut to 144lbs for the fight and the ref stopped it before the card even started. whole thread vanished like a ghost by february. or what about that brazilian welterweight a few years back, 5'7" with hands like wrecking balls—everyone swore he’d be in the mix for a title shot after he ko’d a guy in twelve seconds, and what happened? first real test came at the weigh-in for a 57kg bout and he hit 63kg, spent six hours puking, then got dropped three times in the first before he could even raise his hands. twelve solid minutes against jake taylor, now that’s proper grit, but the body never lies and that bellator lad in 2016 who dropped to welterweight without cutting? piece of cake in theory, piece of shit in practice. time will tell if this one’s the real deal, but the pattern’s older than my lorry’s wheels.
Seen it all, lads.