New flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja’s first title defense will come against Brandon Royval in the co-main event of UFC 296 on December 16th in Las Vegas.
The 33-year-old Pantoja won the 125lb title back in July when be beat Brandon Moreno by split decision at UFC 290.
That actually marked Pantoja’s third victory over Moreno, having also beaten him by submission on The Ultimate Fighter back in 2016 and then again via unanimous decision in the promotion in 2018.
Now Pantoja will look to extend his current four-fight winning streak by taking on another familiar foe as he previously beat Royval by submission in 2021.
The 31-year-old Royval has since won three fights in a row, beating Rogerio Bontorin, Matt Schnell and most recently Matheus Nicolau to earn his first UFC title shot as well as getting a chance to get revenge.
Pantoja vs. Royval serves as the co-main event on an end-of-year UFC 296 card that will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between Leon Edwards and Colby Covington. No other fights have been announced so far for the show.
