Some people knew Alexandre
Pantoja was going all the way to the top when he was just a
youngling.
Pantoja, the
Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight champion, defends his
title on May 4 in his home country of Brazil. “The Cannibal” lived
part of his life in Copacabana and later in Arraial do Cabo, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. Currently residing in Florida to train at American
Top Team, Pantoja will compete in Brazil for the first time since
2013 when he faces surging contender Steve Erceg
in the UFC
301 main event.
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Pantoja’s first coach, Petterson
Melo, taught in the beach town of Arraial do Cabo. He
highlighted that his pupil already showed signs of a promising
future from his first steps inside the Luiz Alves Training Center,
which to this day remains a staging ground for the formation of new
talents in the Lakes Region. Melo spoke to Sherdog about his
student’s past, and others that trained with him over the
years.
“The boy was pure bravery,” recalled Melo. “Since he arrived, you
could already see in his eyes and in his attitudes during training
that he would go far. I saw in him the same [way] that I saw in
Jose
Aldo. Not by chance, we won everything here in Brazil, and
through total merit and dedication, he is where he is today. I’m a
big fan of him.”
Pantoja was not the only talent discovered and sharpened by Melo at
CTLA who went on to represent Brazil on international stages.
Besides him, Otto
Rodrigues, who has a fight scheduled this weekend in the
Professional Fighters League, and Alexandre
Cirne, who has already competed in countries like China, Japan
and Russia.
“I still follow Otto
Rodrigues’ training sessions, currently in the PFL, which
acquired Bellator. I no longer train Pantoja, but I continue to
cheer for him and follow his career just as I followed the
trajectory of guys like Antonio
Minotauro and Jose Aldo,”
Melo concluded.