Alexandre Pantoja has fought at flyweight throughout his MMA career. In 32 bouts, he’s never missed weight and has only failed to make the cut once through illness. The man’s a machine…
UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja is set to defend his belt against UFC No.10 ranked flyweight Steve Erceg at the main event of UFC 301 on May 4 at the Farmasi Arena in Pantoja’s hometown of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
The bout will mark Pantoja’s second defense of the flyweight belt which he won from Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 last 8 July 2023. In his first title defence, the 34-year-old Brazilian defeated Brandon Royval via unanimous decision at UFC 296 last 16 December 2023.
RELATED: Alexandre Pantoja Gears Up For UFC 301 Showdown With Steve Erceg
That victory was the fifth straight for Pantoja and is his longest winning steak in his UFC tenure and also his longest overall since winning 11 in a row from 2010 to 2017. He started his UFC career with a modest 6-3 record inside the Octagon. But after losing to Askar Askarov in 2020, he has yet to taste defeat.
Pantoja’s fight against Erceg will be the 33rd time he will enter the cage in his professional MMA career. The ‘Cannibal’ has fought at flyweight throughout his mixed martial arts career. As a testament to his dedication as a fighter, he has never missed the 125-pound limit.
He tipped the scales at the flyweight limit of 125 pounds when he defeated Eric Shelton in his UFC debut on 28 January 2017, at UFC on Fox 23. Impressively, he weighed in at that same weight when he beat Moreno and successfully defended the title against Royal.
The only documented time where Pantoja had weight-cutting issues was during his first fight with Royval in 2021. According to Pantoja, he suffered a serious injury that almost forced him to withdraw from the fight. Then one week before the event, he had a bout with the flu.
“During fight week I also had a bad case of the flu,” Pantoja said. “I was taking medicine coming into the fight. I had a troubled weight cut because of that, but I didn’t have problems gaining weight. All of that made my win even more meaningful and gave me an even stronger desire to win.”
By God’s grace, he recovered on time and just as he did in every other bout, Pantoja made the 125-pound limit during the weigh-ins. He went on to defeat Royval via submission Two fights later, he was UFC flyweight king.