Alexandre
Pantoja will draw from Jose Aldo’s
celebration book if he defends his title against Steve Erceg
at UFC
301.
Pantoja is scheduled to put his flyweight strap on the line against
Erceg in Saturday’s main event at the Farmasi Arena in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. In an ideal scenario, Pantoja hopes to knock Erceg
out and run into the home crowd just like Aldo did after his
victory over Chad Mendes
at UFC
142 in 2012. Aldo running into the crowd at the HSBC Arena in
Rio de Janeiro after knocking out Mendes with a knee with one
second remaining in the first round has forever been etched in the
promotion’s history books.
Without a single fight in Brazil in an
Ultimate Fighting Championship career spanning over seven
years, Pantoja had never dreamed of the possibility of replicating
the moment. But when the opportunity has finally arisen, “The
Cannibal” believes the stars are perfectly aligned for his
homecoming.
“I hope I do like him [vs.] Chad Mendes. Knock him [Steve Erceg]
out, and run to the crowd,” the UFC flyweight champ told Shakeil Mahjouri . “I can imagine that I’m super happy
with that moment. I can’t dream with that… I’m never dreaming this
moment can happen you know; I never fight in Brazil for UFC. And
now 1 years [later] back to [Brazil] like a king with the belt. And
that’s why I’m feel so happy because everyone feel that. Everybody
with me in my life feel that moment.”
Aldo will also be coming out of retirement to fight out his UFC
contract on the same card against rising prospect Jonathan
Martinez.
Pantoja also expects “Uh Vai Morrer” (You will die) chants for his
Australian opponent from the Brazilian fans. However, Pantoja
claimed that Brazilian fans are an emotional but non-violent lot
and no harm will come to Erceg.
The Brazilian crowd was criticized for pelting Brandon
Moreno with cans and bottles after his technical knockout win
over Deiveson
Figueiredo in their UFC 283 clash in January 2023. Pantoja
downplayed the incident as a one-off, also claiming that Moreno has
a massive following in Brazil.
“Uh Vai Morrer, Uh Vai Morrer! Yeah, people can say that. I like
it, I like it. Nobody [is] gonna hurt him,” Pantoja said. “People
say bad things about what happened with [Brandon] Moreno and
Deiveson Figueiredo, because [fans threw] something at Moreno. Just
like an imported beer you know, fancy beer, just that. People in
Brazil love Moreno, he has a huge fan [base] there. When I fight
Moreno, a lot of fans from Brazil say I’m gonna lose, ‘I’m with
Moreno, you don’t deserve.’ I’m OK. Brazilian fans [are very
emotional], but it’s not like [they are a violent] people. We hug
everyone.”
