Alexandre Pantoja Plans Iconic Jose Aldo Moment in Front of Home Crowd at UFC 301

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.”