Alexandre Pantoja has revealed that he’s now ready to return to action after suffering a freak arm injury just 26 seconds into his fight with Joshua Van back in December that ended his title reign at 125lbs.

“I’m ready,” Pantoja told mmafighting.com. “After December, what happened to my arm, two days after that, I went to the gym, started training with just one arm. That’s who I am. I’m not done. I’m not done. I have so much to conquer. I have so much to prove. I want to take the belt again. I want to be UFC champion one more time.”

Since his last fight his rival Van has gone on to successfully defend the flyweight title for the first time courtesy of a 5th round TKO victory against Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328 in May.

That could set things up nicely for the champ to now have a rematch with Pantoja, who had defended the belt four times prior to their first encounter.

“Of course, I have unfinished business with Joshua Van,” Pantoja said. “As an athlete, I know I lost the fight. That happened. But like a man, I don’t think he beat me. I’m still here. I’m ready to fight. I’m in amazing shape. Let’s see what happens next.”

That being said, Pantoja believes the flyweight division is currently thriving, and so he’s eager to test himself against a number of leading contenders.

“Flyweight is better than ever,” Pantoja said. “I think what happened with me last year made the division more fire. Now I have the opportunity to take over and beat everybody again.”