Alexandre Pantoja's desire to be great is admirable but continuing to rack up the title defenses will say all that needs to be said.

LAS VEGAS -- What we're seeing from Alexandre Pantoja, who on Saturday was 34 years, seven months and 22 days old when he submitted Kai Asakura in the main event of UFC 310 at T-Mobile Arena to retain his flyweight title is both rare and remarkable.

It's rare in the sense that you don't often see athletes coming into their primes and improving at nearly 35 years old. And it is remarkable in the sense that Pantoja put on a dominant performance against a younger, hungry challenger who had the power in his hands to knock him out with a single shot.

He's gone 7-1 in the ultimate younger man's sport, in that span improving each time out and defeating the likes of Brandon Royval twice, Brandon Moreno, Alex Perez, Steve Erceg, Manel Kape and Asakura.

He was a good fighter in his 20s, but he's turned into a great one in his 30s. It's not often you see that. 

"He's awesome [and] he looked incredible tonight," UFC CEO Dana White said of Pantoja.

At the opening bell, the hard-hitting Asakura came out aggressively and threw a leaping knee that caught the champion. Pantoja took it and immediately let his hands go, backing him up.

Asakura is a big, rangy and powerful flyweight, and he's at his best when he's walking his opponent down and on the attack. Asakura held the bantamweight title at RIZIN before signing with the UFC, so he had good size, as well.

Pantoja went through him like it was nothing. He looked like a 24-year-old who had gotten some experience and finally realized how good he is. His game went to a new level, and he was able to mix all aspects of his game seamlessly on Saturday in front of a crowd of 18,648.

That doesn't usually occur when this late into a fighter's career.

Afterward, he called out the legendary former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, who retired earlier this year. Johnson is not only widely regarded as the greatest flyweight ever, but he's regarded as one of the top five or six fighters in the sport's history.

Johnson, though, is 38 and retired on May 5 after a win over Adriano Moraes. While he could still probably compete at a high level, he's not what he was in the middle part of the previous decade when he was in the middle of a streak of 11 consecutive successful title defenses.

White said he's open to the idea of Johnson coming back if Johnson is interested, but the UFC will have to determine how much good it will do Pantoja to take that fight. If Johnson isn't the same guy he was in his heyday, it doesn't make much sense.

Pantoja made his pitch by noting a win would establish him as the greatest flyweight.

"I want to prove to myself who's the best flyweight in the world," Pantoja said. "That's why I'm fighting. That's why I fought tonight. That's so special for me because I'm fighting in the UFC in Las Vegas in the last pay-per-view show of the year to prove to all the people I'm the best fighter in the flyweight division. Maybe I'm trying more for the pound-for-pound. That's what I want. That's what I want.

" ... I want to fight with the best fighters in the world. Like I said, I fought witih an Australian, a Mexican, a Japanese and an American and I proved myself. I proved I'm the best of the best. That's what I want to continue to prove. That's why I want to fight the mentor, Demetrious Johnson. I'll give him six months, eight months to come back. I don't know, but he can skip the line right now and fight for the belt."

His attitude is exactly what you'd hope to see in an elite professional athlete. He's got all the accolades but he wants to erase all doubt. It's like a golfer who has won The Masters but wants to add the PGA, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship to complete the grand slam and make history.

Johnson tweeted that he's content in retirement.

Even if he came back, who knows what kind of challenge he'd present to Pantoja at this stage. But Pantoja doesn't need Johnson so much as he needs to just keep winning: White cheerleads heavyweight champion Jon Jones so much because he simply keeps winning.

Some are close fights he's fortunate to get the nod on; others are blowouts. In either case, Jones racks up win after win after win after win. With each W, it's harder and harder to ignore his greatness.

And so that should be Pantoja's challenge. Rack up a few more title defenses and the narrative will soon swing in his direction.

The talent in MMA is better than it's ever been top to bottom, and that's particularly true of the flyweights. 

If we're in the same spot in three years, with Pantoja have reeled off a bunch more title defenses, Pantoja won't have to proclaim himself the flyweight GOAT.

His resume will do it for him.