“Pantoja was driving for Uber Eats two fights ago” - Ariel Helwani reveals new UFC flyweight champion’s inspiring story of overcoming adversity

Alexandre Pantoja has overcome a lot of adversity on his journey to becoming UFC flyweight champion and Ariel Helwani revealed more about his inspiring story.

During the start of today's episode of The MMA Hour, Helwani noted that the reigning UFC flyweight champion was a hard worker and even had a job in addition to being a professional MMA fighter. He mentioned that he was making deliveries as an UberEats driver as recently as two years ago.

He said:

"[Alexandre] Pantoja was driving for UberEats two fights ago. What did I say, two months ago? Excuse me, two fights ago."

The Canadian then noted that it must have been difficult for 'The Cannibal' to deliver food, while attempting to ascend the rankings in the UFC. He mentioned how inspiring it was for him to continue and still accomplish his goals and recounted his story, saying:

"I mean, that's just absurd. So, the Royval fight - I know he hasn't fought in a while because he was waiting for this opportunity - that was August 2021, so that was less than two years ago. UberEats driver, made $100 the weekend before the Royval fight in August of 2021, and then stopped driving when he got the 50k bonus."

Pantoja's inspiring story of what he had to overcome will definitely earn him more fans and rightfully so.

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Alexandre Pantoja improves to 3-0 against Brandon Moreno

Alexandre Pantoja clearly has Brandon Moreno's number as he improved his record to 3-0 against the former flyweight champion.

'The Cannibal' and 'The Assassin Baby' have competed twice in the UFC and once on The Ultimate Fighter. On each occasion, it has been the Brazilian who has gotten the better of Moreno as he submitted him on TUF, earned a unanimous decision win in their 2018 bout, and most recently earned a split decision win to become the new flyweight champion.

There is a strong demand from fans to see another fight between the entertaining flyweight competitors. So, it will be interesting to see whether Moreno can avenge his loss if they fought a fourth time.