Alexandre Pantoja Passidomo (born April 16, 1990) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the former UFC Flyweight Champion. He is considered one of the greatest flyweights of all time. As of December 9, 2025, he is #1 in the Meta UFC flyweight rankings and as of June 16, 2026, he is #13 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.
Pantoja captured the UFC Flyweight Championship by defeating Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 on July 8, 2023. He successfully defended the title four consecutive times en route to an eight fight win streak. Pantoja holds many UFC records in the flyweight division, including the most wins, most submissions, and most finishes. He is also the first male UFC flyweight to win a title fight at the age of 35 or older.
Contents
Early life
Alexandre Pantoja was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The youngest of three children, his mother, Ester Pantoja, was adopted as a child as her biological parents could not afford to raise her. The surname "Pantoja," inherited from his mother's adoptive family, was taken by Alexandre and, according to him, carried with pride throughout his MMA career.
During his childhood, he experienced difficult moments with his parents' separation, after family conflicts led his father to leave home. Raised primarily by his mother, he was introduced to Brazilian jiu-jitsu at the age of 11 through the influence of his stepfather, Moraes, with whom he began training at the traditional academy of renowned master Osvaldo Alves in Copacabana. At age 12, he moved with his family to Arraial do Cabo, where he started training with boys his own age for the first time, having previously only trained with older athletes.
Despite a promising start in martial arts, his relationship with his stepfather deteriorated due to alcohol-related problems, which led Pantoja to move to Bahia to live with his father. There, he maintained his dedication to jiu-jitsu and began teaching the discipline at just 15 years old, in addition to winning his first state title in the gentle art.
Back in Arraial do Cabo, he participated in a jiu-jitsu championship held in a ring, where he first encountered muay thai. Fascinated by the new martial art, he began training under the guidance of master Helbert Reis, accumulating several victories in the sport. However, due to the lack of financial return in muay thai, often having to pay to compete, he decided to transition to mixed martial arts. His professional MMA debut occurred at the age of 17.
Mixed martial arts career
The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions
On May 11, 2016, the UFC announced that the 16 contestants for the season of this TUF would be flyweight champion fighters from various organizations around the world, with the winner being expected to have a chance to fight for the flyweight title against Demetrious Johnson. The cast was announced on July 20. The coaches for the season were the former challengers to the flyweight belt, Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo, and Pantoja was from Team Cejudo.
He was ranked # 1 in Team Cejudo, and made his first fight against # 16 Team Benavidez, Brandon Moreno. The two came to interact within the house, even with Pantoja speaking Portuguese and Brandon Moreno speaking Spanish, the similarity between languages facilitated communication. In the fight, Alexandre Pantoja defeated Brandon Moreno by submission in the second round. With this victory, Pantoja went to the quarterfinals of the reality show.
Pantoja faced fellow team Cejudo member Kai Kara-France in the quarterfinals, defeating him by unanimous decision and progressing through to the semifinals.
Pantoja faced Hiromasa Ougikubo in the semifinals of the tournament and was defeated by unanimous decision, and it was soon announced that he had contracted with the UFC.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Alexandre made his promotional debut on January 28, 2017, at UFC on Fox 23 against Eric Shelton. He won the fight via split decision.
Pantoja faced Neil Seery on July 16, 2017 at UFC Fight Night 113. He won the fight via submission in the third round.
Pantoja faced Dustin Ortiz on January 20, 2018 at UFC 220. He lost the fight by unanimous decision.
Pantoja faced Brandon Moreno on May 19, 2018 at UFC Fight Night 129. He won the fight by unanimous decision.
Pantoja faced Ulka Sasaki on November 17, 2018 at UFC Fight Night 140. He won the fight via rear-naked choke submission in the first round.
Pantoja faced Wilson Reis on April 13, 2019 at UFC 236. He won the fight via TKO in the first round.
Pantoja faced Deiveson Figueiredo on July 27, 2019 at UFC 240. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. This fight earned him the Fight of the Night award.
Pantoja faced Matt Schnell on December 21, 2019 at UFC Fight Night 165. He won the fight via first-round knockout. The win also earned Pantoja his first Performance of the Night bonus award.
Pantoja faced Askar Askarov at UFC Fight Night 172 on July 19, 2020. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.
Pantoja was expected to face promotional newcomer and the former Rizin FF Bantamweight champion Manel Kape on December 19, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 183. However, Pantoja pulled out of the fight in early December due to COVID-19 symptoms. The fight eventually took place on February 6, 2021 at UFC Fight Night 184. Pantoja won the fight via unanimous decision.
Personal life
Pantoja is married and has two sons. After winning the UFC Flyweight Championship at UFC 290, Pantoja revealed in the post-fight interview that his father had abandoned his family, leaving his mother to raise him and his two brothers alone, and (facing the camera) asked his father if he was proud of him now. He is brand ambassador, along with Diego Lopes and Valter Walker, as part of the multi-year branding deal between the UFC and Spribe.
Championships and accomplishments
Ultimate Fighting Championship
UFC Flyweight Championship (One time)
Four successful title defenses
Second most title fight wins in UFC Flyweight division history (5) (behind Demetrious Johnson)
Oldest fighter in history to win a UFC Flyweight title fight (35 years, 73 days)
Fight of the Night (Three times) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo, Brandon Moreno 2 and Joshua Van 2
Performance of the Night (Four times) vs. Matt Schnell, Brandon Royval 1, Alex Perez and Kai Asakura
Tied (Brandon Moreno & Brandon Royval) for second most Post-Fight bonuses in UFC Flyweight division history (7) (behind Demetrious Johnson)
Most wins in UFC Flyweight division history (14)
Most finishes in UFC Flyweight division history (8)
Most submissions in UFC Flyweight division history (6)
Fourth most submission attempts in UFC Flyweight division history (14)
Tied (Joshua Van) for the second longest win streak in UFC Flyweight division history (8) (behind Demetrious Johnson)
Tied (Joseph Benavidez) for third most bouts in UFC Flyweight division history (19)
Mixed martial arts record
*Date given is the air date of the episode. The actual dates of the fight are not released by the UFC