Fight Coverage
Coach Conversation | UFC 310: Pantoja vs Asakura
Eliot Marshall Breaks Down The Flyweight Title Fight Between Alexandre Pantoja And Kai Asakura
Ahead of every championship fight, UFC staff writer E. Spencer Kyte sits down with one of the sharpest coaching minds in the sport to break down the action and provide UFC fans with insights into each championship pairing from the men that spend their days getting these elite athletes prepared to compete on the biggest stage in the sport.
In advance of this weekend’s flyweight title clash between defending champ Alexandre Pantoja and debuting challenger Kai Asakura, Kyte called upon TUF alum and UFC veteran Eliot Marshall, who now serves as the co-owner and head instructor at Easton Training Center in Denver, to provide his thoughts on four points of interest heading into the final championship fight of 2024.
Order UFC 310: Pantoja vs Asakura
Best Trait of Each Fighter
Kyte: Let’s dive right in — what’s the best trait of Alexandre Pantoja and what’s the best trait of Kai Asakura?
Marshall: I’m gonna do Kai Asakura first and it’s his knockout power. That is where he’s looking to win this fight,
The best part for Pantoja? For the champions, I always like to look a little more outside of just their skill set, so it’s that he just knows how to win. He mixes things up well, amd he times what he wants to do so well, so his best trait right now is that he’s a f****** winner.
And I think that’s such an important trait.
Kyte: I agree completely and I think we’ve seen it in two of his three championship fights. The fight with Brandon Moreno was super-close and he went out and did enough in the eyes of the judges to win the fifth round and get the belt. The fight with Steve Erceg was really close, and again, he managed to find a way to sneak ahead, and those things are huge.
Marshall: Especially at this weight class, because they’re not knocking each other out, they’re not submitting each other all the time, right? This weight class, the fights are almost always close.
Kyte: Well, this is where I want to go to Asakura’s power and finishing abilities, because I agree with you there, as well.
FOLLOW @UFCNEWS: On Facebook | On Instagram | On X
I watch him and think it’s rare (for this weight class) the way he’s able to hurt guys and finish guys, and it’s different because so much of it comes from knees to the body or barrage combinations and then he finds the finishing shot.
And again, to what you’re saying about this division where we don’t see it often, that separates him and can be the thing that differentiates him from everybody else.
Path to Victory for Each Fighter
Marshall: And I wanted to get into that because, in particular, the knees coming up the middle — whether to the body or the head — is the way you deter someone from shooting, which is what is going to be Pantoja’s path to victory here, to look to get Asakura down.
And look, Pantoja is probably good enough to submit him, but it’s going to be about — I was listening to Demetrious Johnson talk about this: it’s going to be about the dart; it’s going to be about the space in between them. Who is going to be able to control the distance in terms of whether Pantoja can close it skillfully on the way in without getting killed or whether Asakura can land the strike.
He doesn’t even have to land the strike — can he deter Pantoja enough from fully committing to his shots because he’s very worried about the entry.
Sign Up For UFC FIGHT PASS Today To Watch FPI 9 On December 5
Kyte: Show him the weapons enough times, come close with them enough that he thinks, “Maybe not. Maybe I’ll go one out of every two or three times.”
Marshall: Just make him hesitant. If he’s setting up to shoot and Asakura shows the knee up the middle or a front kick up the middle, and Pantoja is like, “Damn, now I have to reset again.” Every time he makes Pantoja reset is going to be an opportunity for him to close the space with a strike, as he’s looking to do.
Kyte: So for Asakura, as simple as it sounds, the path to victory is keep it standing, keep it at range because shot-for-shot, as good as Pantoja is on the feet, skill-wise, technically, Asakura is better.
Alexandre Pantoja Fight Week Interview | UFC 310
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there’s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world’s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!
Alexandre Pantoja Fight Week Interview | UFC 310
/
Marshall: And Pantoja gets caught some times; we’ve seen Pantoja get hit.
Kyte: And that’s the way to draw him into some mistakes.
Marshall: The range is important, but it’s not just keeping Pantoja at range: it’s keeping Pantoja at range and frustrated, because Pantoja is going to stay at range.
He’s not gonna be in the pocket a lot; he’s gonna be at range and then try to close the distance, so can he keep him at range and frustrated, tentative?
Saturday's Full Fight Card Preview
Kyte: Leave him out there where he’s throwing kicks, not landing a lot, and it turns into a two-for-one, three-for-one fight for Asakura where he’s looking for the big shot, and Pantoja is stuck out there making bad decisions.
Marshall: And not fighting the fight he wants to fight!
When you’re not performing the way you want to perform, it’s a mental thing, as well; it’s not just a physical thing. It’s fatiguing. You’re not doing what you wanted to do and the other guy is stopping you from doing that, and then that mental fatigue contributes to physical fatigue.
Kyte: And we’ve seen him get off the path and “Parrumpa” (Marcos Da Matta) has to get into him in the corner like, “Hey man — stop doing that”
But if what we’re doing isn’t there, Plan B is a tough plan in this fight because it’s that you have to beat him on the feet, and for Pantoja, that means being a bit of a berserker, and that leaves you open, as we talk about all the time.
Marshall: His berserker works well with his style because he’s always mixing in the wrestling. You don’t know whether his berserker is gonna be striking or wrestling, grappling, but if you can nullify the grappling ins, the darting in that he does and it becomes just striking, I don’t know that he’ll be able to survive five rounds.
If he was a point fighting striker, maybe he can get by.
Alexandre Pantoja Fighter Profile
X Factor
Kyte: What is the X-factor in this fight?
Marshall: The gap and who controls it; that’s the X-factor.
It’s gonna be a lot at range and we’re gonna see a lot of space between them, but then who is gonna win that. If it’s a striking fight, Asakura is winning, and if it’s a grappling match, Pantoja is winning. I’m not even gonna talk about whether Asakura can defend the takedowns mostly because I don’t think he can — it’s gonna be about whether or not Pantoja can consistently close off that space and that distance in a skillful manner without getting caught on the way in?
For me, it’s 100 percent the gap.
Kai Asakura Fight Week Interview | UFC 310
Unlock MORE of your inner combat sports fan with UFC Fight Pass! Fighting is what we live for. And no one brings you MORE live fights, new shows, and events across multiple combat sports from around the world. With a never-ending supply of fighting in every discipline, there’s always something new to watch. Leave it to the world’s authority in MMA to bring you the Ultimate 24/7 platform for MORE combat sports, UFC Fight Pass!
Kai Asakura Fight Week Interview | UFC 310
/
Kyte: That consistency piece is what I connect to it most, too, because maybe he defends it in the first round, maybe Asakura defends it well in the first couple rounds, but Pantoja is not gonna stop.
We know he always looks exhausted, but he always keeps coming, and as we talked about, he finds ways to win, so can Asakura do it for 25 minutes? Can he do it consistently for five rounds?
Marshall: I don’t think he’s gonna be able to do it for five rounds.
I think Pantoja will get him out of there if we see later in the fight. I see Asakura winning the first. He’s got to get him out of there by the second, and I think either way, he’s winning the first round.
Kyte: I gotcha. That makes sense to me.
One Coaching Curiosity
Kyte: Coaches see the sport differently and look at the sport differently than anyone else, picking up on different things and paying attention to movements, habits, or intangible pieces that others might not notice, but that could have a significant impact on the action inside the Octagon.
Every matchup offers its own unique collection of elements that might pique a coach’s interest and get them paying a little closer attention once the fight gets underway.
So what is that one thing in this matchup?
Marshall: I’m curious to see if Asakura can do it; that’s my curiosity.
Kyte: I wanna see how he matches up at this level.
Marshall: Let’s be clear as day: Rizin is not the UFC, dog.
Kyte: Right.
We do all the “he’s this, that and the other” and he’s beaten this guy and that guy. If we wanna go best win in terms of name, it’s Kyoji Horiguchi in 68 seconds, but that was five years ago.
Marshall: And he caught him.
Kyte: If your best win is five years ago, I have questions. He beat Juan Archuleta last year — that’s a good win, Juan is a tough dude. It’s a good win, but is it the kind of win where I’m ready to pick you to beat Alexandre Pantoja?
Kyte: And it’s his first UFC appearance, his face is on the marquee, and you’ve gotta make that walk for the first time.
Marshall: And people gotta understand that is a real thing, man. Nobody can understand the level of production of the UFC until you do it. I know Japan sells out arenas, but the crowd is different, backstage is different, fight week is different.
The fight week on the marquee? There is so much s*** to do, where in other organizations, they don’t have the media of it; they don’t have the eyeballs.
Kyte: Those things all factor in and I think you’re right — I think people don’t understand how different it is and how much time it takes to really get comfortable, settled with everything that is going on.
Marshall: It’s so different, and there is so much extra pressure when you’re on the marquee.
Kyte: And all of it makes this fight even more exciting. Thanks for doing this; enjoy the fights!
UFC 310: Pantoja vs Asakura took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 7, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!