With Askar Askarov out, Alexandre Pantoja vs. Alex Perez booked for UFC 277
Alex Perez will still be fighting in July but will do so just a few weeks later.
Perez was set to meet Askar Askarov on July 16 in Long Island but it was reported the Russian was forced out of the bout due to an injury. Shortly after, Brazilian outlet AgFight reported that Alexandre Pantoja has agreed to face Perez at UFC 277 on July 30 in Dallas, Texas.
Alexandre Pantoja (24-5) is the third-ranked flyweight and is coming off a submission win over Brandon Royval last August and has since been dealing with an injury. Prior to that, he defeated Manel Kape by decision to get back into the win column after losing a decision to Askar Askarov. In his UFC career, the Brazilian is 8-3 with notable wins over Brandon Moreno and Matt Schnell while his other two losses came to Deiveson Figueiredo and Dustin Ortiz.
Alex Perez (24-6) has had a hard time getting fights as he has not fought since he headlined UFC 255 against Figueiredo for the flyweight title and suffered a first-round submission loss. Since then, he has been booked against Matt Schnell four times and Askarov twice and for a variety of different reasons – sometimes on his end – the fights were canceled.
Perez is currently ranked sixth at flyweight and before the title fight loss was on a three-fight win streak. During that run, he defeated Jussier Formiga, Jordan Espinosa, and Mark De La Rosa. In his UFC career, he holds notable wins over Jose Torres and Eric Shelton while his only other loss was to Joseph Benavidez.
With the addition of Pantoja vs. Perez, UFC 277 is as follows:
- Julianna Pena vs. Amanda Nunes
- Brandon Moreno vs. Kai Kara-France 2
- Derrick Lewis vs. Sergei Pavlovich
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Anthony Smith
- Alexandre Pantoja vs. Alex Perez
- Ji Yeon Kim vs. Mariya Agapova
- Drakkar Klose vs. Diego Ferreira
- Ramiz Brahimaj vs. Michael Morales
- Justin Tafa vs. Don’Tale Mayes
- Drew Dober vs. Rafael Alves
- Nick Negumereanu vs. Ihor Potieira
- Orion Cosce vs. Blood Diamond
- Ignacio Bahamondes vs. L’udovit Klein
