In the immediate aftermath of claiming the flyweight title from Brandon Moreno in the UFC 290 co-main event, [autotag]Alexandre Pantoja[/autotag] told Joe Rogan that few people were aware of the struggles he endured to get his hands on gold.
Every fighter who chooses to compete in a volatile sport like MMA has taken risks and made sacrifices, and only few make it to the top. Pantoja (26-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) is now one of them after his split decision win over Moreno (21-6-2 MMA, 9-3-2 UFC) this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The road had many obstacles along the way, and in recent years, Pantoja had plenty.
On Monday, MMA journalist Ariel Helwani reported that during his rise up to the 125-pound belt, Pantoja had a six-month stint working for UberEats in order to support himself. For a fighter who has been in the top 15 ranking for more than half a decade and in the top 5 since 2019, that came as jarring news to some.
The topic of UFC fighter pay has been a constant point of discussion for fans, media and fighters themselves for years, but Pantoja doesn’t think his situation should be used as an anti-UFC talking point. He said there was a time when financial security wasn’t a high point of stress, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and it aligned with some major life decisions.
“I don’t want to put like the UFC needs to give more money to the fighters,” Pantoja told MMA Junkie. “I don’t try to do that. I want people to understand: When COVID was coming, my family moved back to Brazil. I came back to keep training and I fight with Manel Kape (in February 2021) and I made a good fight. Then I brought my family back so I could make a down payment on a house, and I put a lot of money for that. I’m a very family guy. I can’t live without my family. I brought my family back to the U.S., but of course, I made a down payment, and money was short. In that moment, of course, what am I going to do? I don’t have daddy to take care of me. I don’t have anybody in the U.S.
“I’m a man, bro. I learned that very young. I’m a man and I need to take care of my business. My wife started working and I started working. This like, ‘Oh my God, he’s a UFC fighter and he’s working for UberEats.’ This is life. What are you talking about? I’m not trying to put some bad thing for UFC. I love UFC. They take care of all the fighters. This is the best event for fighter in the world. UFC gave me everything. I’m living good. I had to take care of my kids before the belt.”
Pantoja, 33, did not reveal the specific amount he invested into a down payment on a home close to his home training base at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla., but admitted the commitment left him in something of a financial bind. Without a fight immediately on the horizon and not knowing when his next purse would come in, Pantoja didn’t feel comfortable asking the people around him for assistance, so he took matters into his own hands.
“I made my choice,” Pantoja said. “If I’m living in Brazil, I’m a rich guy. Because in Brazil if you have a dollar, you’re a rich guy. But no, I chose to come to Florida. I chose to raise my kids here, and I have my green card. This is very special for me. But in that moment after COVID, because I wanted my family by my side, I brought my family back, I made a down payment. In that moment I really didn’t have enough money to take care of all the bills. What am I going to do? Ask somebody to help me? Of course not. I work. Then I worked and worked and work so hard to keep my dream alive. It’s not about dreams, it’s about your life. What are you going to do? I worked. That’s not a big deal.
“I worked some jiu-jitsu tournaments, (worked for) like a production guy and I worked with UberEats. I tried to do like $150 a day. I could do that fast. Sometimes I don’t. … I had one month where I had to pay my bills. I was really thinking about, ‘I need to work. I need real work.’ Because one month I had to pay my mortgage. I don’t want to lose my house. I put everything for that house for my kids here. In that moment, just one month to live, and I have to fight, and I worked so hard in the Uber.”
Fighters are very proud and confident individuals, and some others at Pantoja’s level of the sport might not have been willing to put their ego aside and take on such a task. He thinks he was ultimately rewarded for his sacrifice, though, because his next fight against Brandon Royval in August 2021 was the beginning of his turning point.
With a heavy burden on his shoulders, Pantoja submitted Royval in the second round at UFC on ESPN 29, and received a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus for his efforts.
“It was Saturday night one week before the fight (with Royval) and it rained a lot in Florida, and I still did the (UberEats) delivery because I had to make $150 for the day. Then I was sick and I went to the fight week sick, and I’m thinking, ‘Damn, I pray to God this is not COVID.’ But it came from the raining and it was just the flu. I just prayed it’s not COVID. Then I made the weight and they tested me and it wasn’t COVID. Then I had the fight. After you make the weight, of course, you’re going to receive your payment (for show money). I said, ‘Thank you, God. If you give me the victory I will appreciate that.’ But I came, I grabbed the money and I had security for a couple months. God gave me much more. He gave me the victory. He gave me the Performance of the Night.”
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Following the finish of Royval, the UFC called Pantoja and offered him a championship fight against Moreno. It was everything he’d been working toward, but then disaster struck. A lingering knee injury worsened, and Pantoja was forced to go under the knife and receive surgery. His original diagnosis of a three-month recovery turned into six months, and he was left with no choice but to decline the title shot.
“The same day I left the hospital, the UFC called me and said, ‘You want to fight for the belt? You have the contract. You have everything,'” Pantoja said. “But then my doctor said, ‘Hey, you need six months (to recover). You can’t train for six months. You just need therapy. If you train before you’ll get hurt again and need another surgery.’ Then I had to say no to fighting for the belt. I really did six months of therapy. I didn’t go to the gym. This made my legs very strong.”
It took 11 months for Pantoja to return to competition following the win over Royval. He was able to sustain the layoff without returning to secondary work such as UberEats, he said, and came back to score a 91-second submission of Alex Perez at UFC 277 in July 2022 that netted him another Performance of the Night bonus. That solidified his title opportunity.
“When I went back to the gym, three months after I went back to the gym, I had a fight with Alex Perez and win the fight within one minute and 30 seconds and I proved to Dana White I’m next in line,” Pantoja said. “This is some history behind (my road to) the belt. That’s why when I fought for the belt, I didn’t lose.”
It took just shy of another year for Pantoja to see his title shot come to fruition. The series of rematches between former champs Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo left him in waiting, but it only gave Pantoja time to train and dial in for when his chance arrives.
He made the most of it when he finally did by leaving UFC 290 with the gold, and now that he’s reached the point he gave so much toward, he can finally exhale.
“I don’t need the belt to say I’m a champion,” Pantoja said. “I come from nothing. I have my family here. I have a house. I have the best life I could ever dream. But this belt represents the best things in my life and I keep full with the happiness about that. I didn’t get here alone. I had all the support. Now, I’ll go to Brazil and put this belt on the shoulder of everybody in my hometown and everybody who helped me get to this moment. I know when I go defend this belt, I’m going to feel like I can use more of my techniques and I can relax and enjoy the moment with a different part because I worked so hard for that. And now I can relax.”
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