UFC 317 star Alexandre Pantoja is known for his submission skills, but his highlight reel isn’t absent of brutal knockouts.

Pantoja will become the longest-reigning active UFC champion should he emerge from Saturday’s pay-per-view with the flyweight title still in his possession. 

After Pantoja dethroned Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 in their memorable five-round war, ‘The Cannibal’ reeled off decisions over Brandon Royval and Steve Erceg before submitting Kai Asakura.

With that, the Brazilian’s reign has lacked a knockout finish. But the same absolutely cannot be said for Pantoja’s UFC career as a whole – something one brutal night in Asia ensured.

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Alexandre Pantoja flattened Matt Schnell in back-and-forth UFC Busan war

After having his three-fight winning streak snapped by Deiveson Figueiredo, Pantoja returned to action as part of the UFC’s second visit to South Korea and first to Busan.

‘The Cannibal’ shared the cage with Matt Schnell, whose victory over Jimmy Flick this past April leveled up his Octagon record at 7-7.

The pair’s clash was over fast but it wasn’t lacking action. They traded bombs in one of the year’s best rounds, and the finish in the final minute of the opening frame went down as one of the year’s most brutal.

At one stage, it looked as though Schnell would land the finishing blow. ‘Danger’ put Pantoja on wobbly legs after connecting with a left hook during a wild exchange. After somehow staying on his feet, the then-future champ recovered before dropping Schnell with a right hand that brought about a unique knockout.

The wobbling American first dropped to his knees before faceplanting the canvas and being put out again with a devastating ground strike.

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Alexandre Pantoja has not recorded a knockout since sleeping Matt Schnell

That result five and a half years ago marked Pantoja’s most recent knockout. But that doesn’t mean the Brazilian has been void of memorable finishes since.

After his sixth rear-naked choke against Brandon Royval, Pantoja ran through Alex Perez in quick time at UFC 277, submitting the American with a gruesome standing neck crank in round one.

His only finish since came in his last fight, when Pantoja choked out Kai Asakura in the main event of UFC 310 last December.

With Kara-France’s penchant for striking firefights, perhaps Pantoja will be eyeing his first KO since 2019 at UFC 317 on Saturday.