Issue 200
December 2023
Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a more dramatic, heart-warming story of perseverance and triumph than the one Alexandre Pantoja crafted on his way to winning the UFC flyweight title. E. Spencer Kyte caught up with Pantoja, and the people around him, to learn more about his remarkable journey to the top.
Alexandre Pantoja’s rise to the top of the UFC flyweight division feels like it was crafted in Final Draft.
Our protagonist — Brazilian, talented and hungry, but still raw — seeks out a mentor like Luke Skywalker sought out Master Yoda; the Dagobah swamps replaced by South Florida sunshine. He has drive, heart, and a tremendous work ethic; a spitting image of the “this kid could be somebody” archetype that leads so many Hollywood sports movies.
A couple setbacks provide a reminder of the work that still needs to be done, with coach and athlete cementing their bond through the kind of training, drills, and long hours together designed to be captured in a montage soundtracked by classic ‘80s synth-rock.
He has history with the champion — a likeable fellow with his own “built for theatres” tale — and collects the requisite victories needed to garner a championship opportunity, but disaster strikes. An injury forces him to the sidelines, the title picture gets cloudy, and the all-too-perfect matchups feels like it might not come back around.
Surgery, recovery, and a dramatic return follow, setting up the climactic third act showdown wit the champion he’s bested twice before. But he’s better now, riding high off a second championship triumph over a formidable adversary.
For 25 minutes, the two trade rounds; tension building throughout the five-round affair as the ebb and flow of an instant classic unfolds in the cage.
Battered and bloody, the two men stand on either side of the referee, waiting to hear the guy in the suit that looks like your Nan’s sofa to announce the winner. Everything that went in this moment flashes in reverse on the screen, rewinding to the fateful night in Boston more than five years earlier where the road to this moment began in earnest.
“Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd… NEW!” booms the announcer.
Victorious, the tears begin to flow as coaches and teammates embrace; all the sacrifice and effort having paid off.
The journey is complete.
The credits begin to roll, with a mid-credit stinger showing the new champion receiving a hero’s welcome from his friends and teammates; a collection of elite talents and veteran competitors all pressing pause on their day to celebrate their beloved colleague.
Sounds too “on the nose,” right? A little too well-scripted?
That’s why it was so special seeing Pantoja collapse face-first to the canvas in disbelief when the official result was announced.
That’s why the video of his return to American Top Team (ATT) following the fight remains an instant source of happiness and joy.
That’s why speaking with Pantoja, his head coach Marcos DaMatta, and ATT owner and founder Dan Lambert had to happen, because stories like this need to be told by the people that lived them, and they’re always even better than the stories we stream on Netflix or watch in the cinema, whether fictional or based on true events.
Act I
“It started at UFC Boston a while ago,” began DaMatta, universally known through the sport by his nickname, “Parrumpa,” the man Pantoja actively sought out to be his sensei. “He was fighting Dustin Ortiz, and he lost to Dustin Ortiz. Long story short, he reached out to this guy and said, ‘I want to train with Parrumpa — he’s from the same neighborhood that I am, he has the same lineage that I want to be in with Carlson Gracie, he’s one of the main coaches at American Top Team; I want to train with this guy.’
“My student reached out to me, we got on the phone, and I was like, ‘Lemme talk to Dan to see if it’s okay to bring you in, but I don’t see what not. We’ll go from there.’ A few days later, I said, ‘No problem, you can come’ and we put him in one of our apartments with other Brazilians.”
That kind of expedited acceptance into the gym at American Top Team is not normal. Generally, there is a vetting process, with Lambert and the coaches looking at potential new additions, sussing out how they might fit with the current roster before extending an invite for an initial visit. Even then, nothing is set in stone.
“Pantoja was a little different because it wasn’t one of those requests where it was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got this guy. I would like him to come down to the gym. Can he come check it out; he’s a good guy,’” explained Lambert, who founded the Coconut Creek, Florida haven for high-level talent in 2001. “Parrumpa said, ‘Hey man — you gotta let this guy in; he’s my guy. He’s coming.’
“And I said ‘Okay, you’ve been here long enough to call your shots every now and again.’”
Pantoja was more than a decade into his MMA career; his loss to Ortiz at UFC 220 dropping his record to 18-3, bringing an end to an 11-fight winning streak that included a Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) title victory, a second-round submission win over Legacy Fighting Championship titleholder Damacio Page to become the first champion of the newly merged Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA), and a pair of wins in his first two UFC appearances following a semifinal run on Season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter.
He was clearly a talented fighter and someone with the potential to be a contender, perhaps even a champion, in the UFC depending on how things shook out, but the setback signalled to him that he needed to make a major change if he was going to find stability on the roster and forge a successful, long-term career for himself inside the Octagon.
“When I lose in Boston, I see Parrumpa on the same card and I tried to follow him,” Pantoja said with a smile, recounting his initial pursuit of working with the man that has been his head coach ever since. “I did not expect to come to UFC and be a champion — I just come to do my best — but when I go to American Top Team, this changed.
“After two years at American Top Team, I understand I can be a champion; ‘I can do that!’”
DaMatta was convinced of his protege’s championship upside much sooner.
“He said, ‘Listen, I came here for a reason and whatever you say for me to do, I’m gonna do it. Believe me, I will get a lot better. I promise you we’re gonna get to the top,’” DaMatta recalled. “A month or two together, I already saw that happening and thought, ‘This kid can be a champion.’ There were a lot of little details to fix — wrestling was horrible, and his striking was always aggressive.
“There is only one thing we cannot teach in this sport and that’s heart, and Pantoja has a lot of heart.”
Just a couple months into his time at ATT, Pantoja got a short-notice call to compete on the UFC’s first fight card in Santiago, Chile, where he stepped in for Ray Borg opposite Brandon Moreno.
The two were housemates on The Ultimate Fighter and faced off in the opening round of the 16-man tournament, with Pantoja winning by second-round submission. Despite his early exit from the show, Moreno was still called up to the UFC, making his promotional debut while their season was still airing on television, quickly establishing himself as an ascending fighter in the flyweight ranks with wins over Louis Smolka, Ryan Benoit, and Ortiz.
Despite battling the flu in the week leading up to their South American encounter, Pantoja made the trip to Chile and turned in a dominant effort, sweeping the scorecards to hand Moreno his second straight defeat; a loss that would lead to the Mexican talent being released from the organization for one fight as it considered shuttering the flyweight division.
In his first appearance since relocation to American Top Team and beginning his partnership with Parrumpa, Pantoja produced a decisive victory to get things moving in the right direction again.
“After that, it was pretty much history,” said DaMatta. “We’ve got a lot of fights together now. We lost twice, which was to (Askar) Askarov, which was a bad trip to Abu Dhabi, and then we lost to (Deiveson) Figueiredo, which was an eye-opener on the things we need to fix in his game.”
Act II
Putting in the work was never going to be an issue for Pantoja.
“He's there for every class,” Lambert said with a chuckle, describing how the ever-present UFC titleholder has become a near-permanent fixture on the mats at ATT. “This guy comes to amateur class just so he can get extra drills, extra rolls, extra technique.
“He’s always there, he does everything he’s asked for and more, and he appreciates it all, so we appreciate him.”
That work ethic was born in his early days learning the sport, developing as a young fighter, when his master back home in Rio de Janeiro would bring this pupil with him to various gyms, pushing him to train with everyone he possibly could in order to build his skills and his approach.
“This made me hustle; I learned a lot doing that,” explained Pantoja, who has never utilizing the approach, even now that he’s competing at the highest level and stationed atop the UFC flyweight division. "I try to help everybody because everybody has given me a lot.
“Amanda Nunes — I learned how to be a champion with Amanda Nunes; how to do it,” he said of the former two-division champion, who retired in June after successfully defending her bantamweight title against Irene Aldana. “With Joanna Jedrzejczyk, I have a chance to spar with her and I’m never going to forget that.
“This belt, American Top Team gave it to me by giving me this great opportunity.”
Here’s the thing: that approach is not normal.
Yes, in many ways, MMA has a team sport component, and working with others in the gym helps everyone raise their levels; “iron sharpens iron” and whatnot.
But generally speaking, when an athlete reaches a certain level of status, a certain standing within the sport’s hierarchy, the focus shifts from doing what is required to help the team to “I’ve gotta do what is best for me.” Showing up for scheduled classes and helping others prepare for their upcoming fights gives way to seeking out greater individual time with coaches and specific training partners, the focus shifted to the individual, and not the collective.
“As you climb the ladder, as you climb your way to bigger fights, bigger position in rankings, eventually getting a belt, people tend to be a little more selfish,” said Parrumpa, who has always been respected within the sport, but whose profile has increased exponentially this year as he’s guided Pantoja to UFC gold, Arman Tsarukyan into contention at lightweight, and Mayra Bueno Silva into a championship opportunity in the women’s bantamweight division. “It’s not a bad thing, but it’s more common than the other way around.
“When you know that you’re good, when you know that you can reach the highest level and you’re already proving that inside the cage, I would say 90 percent of the fighters — 80 percent, minimum — they want special treatment,” continued the diminutive Brazilian coach. “They want to be put aside and work with specific people for them, and they want to feel special.
“That’s the amazing thing about Pantoja — and Dan loves it because Dan is a team guy — is that he never asks for anything. ‘I want to be in the group class! I want to be with these guys! I want to be with low-level guys so I can practice my submissions, high-level guys so they can beat me up. I want to be helping people so I can get different feels.’ He helps from the smallest ladies to Dustin Poirier.
“It’s amazing his work ethic and how humble he still is, even as a champion,” he added. “That’s what’s amazing about him: he doesn’t care about being famous. He doesn’t care about anything besides winning and family and showing how good he is. With all those things comes fame, but he doesn’t care.”
Act III
Pantoja’s approach is only a part of why everyone at American Top Team — literally everyone — was rooting for him heading into his clash with Moreno and there to welcome him with a raucous ovation when he returned the gym with his UFC title in tow.
Another piece of the equation is that they all witnessed what he went through in order to finally get the opportunity, and his perseverance made him impossible not to root for and cheer on.
“It’s such a Herculean task to win a UFC world title,” said Lambert, whose has watched as fighters like Nunes, Robbie Lawler, Kyogi Horiguchi, Kayla Harrison and several others have ascended to the top of their respective divisions in various promotions, bringing championship gold back to ATT. “I know sometimes the opportunity might fall into somebody’s lap because the champion is out and they need a replacement, then they need a second replacement, and all of a sudden you go from being ranked ninth in the world to holy crap, now they’ve gave me a chance for a world title and you win it, but those are few and far between.
“More often than naught, you’ve got to go through a Murderer’s Row, and even then you need the timing to be right,” continued the ATT founder. “You have to be in the right place at the right time. You could win 10 fights in a row, but then a big name wants that title shot, and now you’re on the waiting list again. Then when you get it, congratulations, now you’ve got to beat the best fighter in the world.”
In the summer of 2021, a year after losing to Askarov and six months after spoiling the promotional debut of former RIZIN standout Manel Kape, Pantoja bested Brandon Royval by second-round submission.
Standing in the center of the Octagon, he across the cage at Moreno, who had claimed the title two months earlier with a third-round submission win over Figueiredo and was serving as part of the UFC’s Spanish announce team.
“This is a good record, no — 30-26 and one little choke?” Pantoja said playfully, the two men clearly holding each other in high regard. "But I like you, Moreno; you know that,” continued the victorious fighter. “I spent some time with him in TUF and I say all the time, I’m happy I made this guy better because every time I (beat) him, he’s grown up. The first time I (beat) him, he came into the UFC (earning) bonuses. The second time I (beat) him, he (fought) and came back like a champ.
“But now is my time, Moreno,” he added. “I see you in December. December is good for you? If it’s good for you, it’s good for me, too.”
In that moment, the championship fight was all but booked. Soon after, Pantoja revealed he would need to undergo surgery to repair a torn ACL, forcing him to forego his title opportunity.
His absence opened the door for a third fight between Moreno and Figueiredo, which then produced a fourth fight, with Moreno winning an interim title bout opposite Kai Kara-France in between the two.
Pantoja would return to action on that same night in Dallas at UFC 277, blitzing Alex Perez and submitting him in 91 seconds to show everyone that he was back, healthy, and once again ready to challenge for championship gold.
On July 8 in Las Vegas, he finally shared the Octagon with Moreno for a third time, with the flyweight title hanging in the balance.
He dropped the champion in the first, only for the Mexican standout to rally back in the second, drawing level. The remaining three rounds were competitive and close, with two of the three officials scoring the UFC 290 co-main event in his favour, awarding him Rounds 1, 3, and 5, good enough for the split decision win and the opportunity to bring the title back to American Top Team.
“For me, it was — I can’t even talk about it without getting emotional,” said DaMatta, who traditionally alternatives between jovial or dialled in, but rarely is misty-eyed. “It’s so big that a guy like that wins. Pantoja was always supposed to be my first champion. The guy that chose me — he chose me, he chose American Top Team. We came from a loss all the way to a UFC title. It’s so — I can’t even put it into words.
“It means so much to me. I can’t put it into words. It had to be with him.”
“I remember telling somebody I thought it would be really cool to see somebody like Pantoja win it all,” said Lambert. “I had no idea how cool it would actually feel, and I mean it — it was awesome.”
Lambert posted a clip of Pantoja returning to the facility following his victory on Instagram, and you can see what his win means to Lambert, to Parrumpa, the coaches, and the fighters, as they gather around to shower the triumphant new champion with applause and listen as he thanks them all for helping him achieve this milestone before reminding them that if he can do it, they can too.
Ever the consummate teammate, Lambert and Parrumpa both said he was back in the gym days later, helping others with fights on deck prepare, turning up for the same classes he’d been attending the whole way through.
While he was right back to work, the impact of the moment still resonates with the UFC flyweight champion today.
“That’s a big moment in my life,” Pantoja said of bringing the belt home to ATT. “You go to your work and everybody stops to say ‘Congrats’ to you. That’s the guys I see every day for six years — everybody knows about me there, and everybody knows how much I worked for that moment.
“For me, having the respect of my teammates it everything. When I have some of my teammates stop their training to watch my training — when I go to the cage and I see my teammates look to my training, that’s wonderful for me. Fans like the fights, but you see another fighter like Renato Moicano, Rogerio “Pezao” (de Lima), Kyogi Horiguchi stop to watch my fights, my training, that’s a special moment. Kayla Harrison comes to me all the time and says, ‘Let’s go, Champ!’ It gives me motivation.
“I have this opportunity now and everything I do, it’s for my teammates — to make an easy way for everybody.”
And to follow in the footsteps of the his “big brother” that helped him to reach the pinnacle of the sport.
“Parrumpa and I are from the same area in Brazil; I have a lot of connections with him,” he added. “He’s an immortal for me because when he leaves, he’s gonna stay here because everybody knows what he did. He’s an immortal — I live with an immortal guy; that’s how much I respect him.
“That’s what I’m trying to do right now too: I’m trying to be like Parrumpa; I’m trying to be immortal too.”
With a story this good, it’s bound to live on forever.
