Top coach suggests Alexandre Pantoja healed, ready for negotiation

Having worked with so many Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters before, coach Marcos da Matta firmly has his finger on the pulse of the sport.

After injuring his arm and losing his belt to Joshua Van, Alexandre Pantoja became one of the most interested men watching the co-main event of UFC 328. Not surprisingly, the Brazilian and his coach “Parrumpa” da Matta watched the event from the front row. Da Matta spoke with Sherdog about the future of his athlete, the successes of a newly minted champion and a whether being a backup fighter is a good idea.

“I particularly wanted Van to win because I really wanted this rematch,” explained to Sherdog.

In the opinion of the American Top Team coach, Van vs. Tatsuro Taira provided excellent material for study.

“We were able to see a lot in these almost five rounds,” the coach analyzed. “Both exposed themselves a lot, showing both strengths and weaknesses. I liked what I saw.”

Waiting in the wings, Pantoja is already fully recovered and is now just waiting for the UFC to schedule the rematch.

“His arm is already 100%, but he still wouldn’t be 100% to fight next week, for example. We need some time to do a championship camp, and I believe that fight will happen around August or September. Now it depends more on the UFC and Joshua Van than on Pantoja,” he stated.

Flowers for Strickland

Speaking about the main event of UFC 328 between Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland for the middleweight title, the ATT coach criticized those who are taking away the merits of the new champion. If the coach had one major favor that contributed to Chimaev losing, it would be his massive weight cut reportedly over 40 pounds.

“People are practically saying that Chimaev lost because of the weight cut. Hold on,” da Matta exclaimed. “What about Strickland? There was a guy there who made Chimaev tired and, in my opinion, won that fight in the last two minutes of a 25-minute war. So, Strickland deserves all the credit.”