From underdog to king: The electrifying journey that turned Pantoja into MMA's sweetheart!
remember back in 2018 when Pantoja was still fighting out of the back of a pickup truck down in Rio just to get a name for himself? some guy in our local gym had a guy whose cousin's brother saw him train in a garage that smelled like petrol and sweat. dude was eating bananas wrapped in plastic like it was his last meal before the main event. we all thought he was just another little engine who'd run out of steam before the big boys, you know? then boom — he got the call, showed up in the octagon looking like a kid who just stole his dad's keys to the car, and left with a smile like he'd been there ten years.
ah well, we'll see
Been here longer than some have followed.
young Pantoja’s name painted on the side of that rickety truck in Copacabana still gives me goosebumps 😱 like some kinda graffiti of destiny yeah?
man i swear that same old rickety truck still makes an appearance every time i’m back home now it’s like some shrine with “pantoja” spray-painted in fading yellow on the dented tailgate and half of rio seems to have taken a selfie next to it over the years
Seen it all, lads.
this rickety pickup truck was so cursed it had its own fan club back in the day—graffiti artists would add "Pantoja" to the side just so they could peel it off a week later when the paint ran 😂🍿 and every time he stepped out of it to spar in that garage full of spiders the size of road cones, we all placed bets on which spider would body-slam him first. then the universe was like "nah fam, he’s got this" and let him keep stealing cars metaphorically 🚗💨 curtain call
Only serious one here — barely.