Alexandre Pantoja has been competing in mixed martial arts for more than half of his life and the gratitude to do what he does remains noticably at the forefront of his focus. Pantoja prepares to run it back against prior opponent on The Ultimate Fighter Kai Kara-France as the two run it back for a quasi-rematch (considering TUF bouts are categorically exhibitions) with the former defending his flyweight title against the latter this weekend.
It all takes place in the co-main event of UFC 317 as part of this year’s International Fight Week proceedings with the reigning 125 pound titleholder fielding questions from assembled media at the fight week media day. When expounding upon his gratitude oriented mindset while also delving a bit into his long road to this moment on Saturday night through the lens of his anecdotal journey within MMA, Pantoja said,
“I really appreciate everything UFC does for me and for my family. I love to fight in this octagon. That’s always a huge opportunity. I fight in the best octagon ever in the world—thousands of people watch me live, millions watch me on TV. I love it, man. I really appreciate that. That’s so cool. I’ve been fighting all my life, brother.”
“My first fight was at 17, and now I’m 35, still fighting at a high level, showing all the world my skills. That’s why I started to fight—I want to show everybody my art. That’s so crazy because I’m not a huge fan of social media and everything, but I love people watching me fight. That’s what I do. When I go to the octagon, that’s when you see the Cannibal, Pantoja.”
Alexandre Pantoja inside the cage versus outside of the cage
Alexandre Pantoja continued, “But outside the octagon, I’m a regular man, a regular guy. The opportunity to go to the octagon and feel freedom—that’s what I like. When I go to the octagon, I feel freedom. I can do whatever I want to do to finish my opponent. That’s why I go to the UFC—why people pay me—to see what I can do to finish my opponent. I love that situation. I don’t know if you have another sport like that. You need to use all your skills to beat your opponent and feel freedom to do that. That’s why people love UFC, love MMA.”
