Alexandre Pantoja Says He Won't Go Up To Fight Merab, Would If Suga Was Champ

Alexandre Pantoja hasn't lost since mid-2020, and fans have repeatedly speculated the UFC's flyweight champ could go up a division and fight for a second belt -- so we asked him!!

TMZ Sports spoke to the 35-year-old ahead of his UFC 323 bout (December 6 on ESPN+) against 24-year-old challenger Joshua Van ... and asked about the prospects of fighting Merab Dvalishvili, the bantamweight title holder.

"I think Merab is one of the best fighters in the world, you know, 100%. He's the number three pound-for-pound, maybe number two," Pantoja said ... adding "Merab is a tough opponent for everybody in his division."

The champ continued ... "It's not easy to think about going up 10 pounds and thinking you can finish someone like Merab, you know? When you talk about 10 pounds to my division, flyweight to the bantamweight, it's a huge comparison."

Pantoja even pointed to a recent fight as an example of how difficult it is for a small fighter to move up, even if it's just one weight class.

"If you see Weili Zhang versus Valentina [Shevchenko], you can see the difference [in] size."

With that said, it's not that AP wouldn't ever consider going up ... especially if the opp was different.

Cue the (seemingly unintended) shade against "Suga" Sean O'Malley.

"Merab is one of the best, you know, one of the pound for pound. I think if O'Malley got the belt, I'm going to say, 'Hey, I'm ready to go.' But with Merab, it's different."