After so many canceled fights, Alex Perez took Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 277 because he was tired of waiting

DALLAS – Alex Perez reached a point where he didn’t care who he fought.

Perez (24-6 MMA, 6-2 UFC) has seen his past six scheduled fights scrapped and hasn’t competed since a title loss to flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo in November 2020. He will finally make his return (fingers crossed) against Alexandre Pantoja on Saturday at UFC 277, which takes place at American Airlines Center and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ABC, ESPN and ESPN+.

“Mick Maynard probably gets annoyed at me because every time there’s a card in Vegas, I text him, ‘Hey, I can make 130, 135,’” Perez told reporters, including MMA Junkie, during Wednesday’s media day. “Take a short-notice fight because I want to fight. It doesn’t matter who it is. I was supposed to fight Askar. He got hurt. I was like, ‘Hey, I still want to fight.’ They were like, ‘Oh, you want to wait?’ I was like, ‘No, I’m not waiting. We’re gonna get this fight, I don’t care who it is.’ So I was just happy to get back in the groove of things, get a new opponent and go from there.”

Perez drew Pantoja (24-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC), who’s right in the title picture. But Perez isn’t focused on title implications and knows he has a tough task ahead of him.

“I’ve just got to worry about Saturday, I’ve got to worry about Pantoja,” Perez said. “He’s dangerous everywhere. Not too many guys are wanting to fight him. He’s probably one of the tougher guys in the division, hits hard, good jiu-jitsu, good grappling, good everywhere. Comes from a great team, so I’m just happy to be back in there.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 277.