Alexandre Pantoja is overrated because his last two losses prove he can’t handle…

Yeah, but tell me — when Moscow became a footnote, did anyone actually watch the replays or just vibe on the round number? That 0-15 was brutal, sure, but it was a bad position on the part of a takedown specialist who’d never needed to stay in one spot past the third round. Pantoja isn’t schooling his takers because he’s dodging; he’s pulling guard too soon, leaving the chin wide in transition — ask Islam Makhachev how that story ends if you want one recent example. And the “gas-station robbery” line? Dude tapped to a guillotine off a whiffed single-leg; that wasn’t theft, that was a technique hole exposed by a fighter whose jiu-jitsu is sharper than Pantoja’s bottom game on that night. Meanwhile, Usman still dances around the real L after walking away from the cage looking like he forgot which leg goes forward.

Oh come on 😱🔥 Pantoja didn’t “choke”, he took these fights to the brink and came up just short with a war chest of tape that rivals ANYONE in this sport! Moscow tap in the LAST SECOND isn’t weak, it’s heroic heartbreak 💪 – Usman? Nah mate, he got out-switched by the best p4p on earth and then ran to the back 100 times since!

Moscow wasn't the first time Pantoja left his chin wide under bright lights either — not even counting the snap decision to start that trilogy in Panama. You remember Bellator 214 in January 2019, the cage right there in Inglewood, Pantoja's American debut against two-time Bellator champ and grappling machine Eduardo Dantas? Dude took three rounds of smashes from Alex, dropped him late in the first with a clean overhand, then put him away for good at 4:25 of round two. Pantoja weathered that fire and still came back to finish. The Moscow finish looked ugly because it happened so late, but let’s be real: you don’t survive 13 minutes on your back against Islam Makhachev then land knees in the fifth and finish the trilogy unless you’re holding something over pressure situations. That belt haul NickFaithful rattled off isn’t built on flukes; it’s built on the same DNA that had him banking bigger purses than half the guys crying about “choking.”

ah man, back in my day when i was selling those bootleg fifa cards on kensington market corners there wasn't no overrated label getting passed around like hot maple donuts — you either fought or you folded, and the belts you hung meant something because the crowd counted every head and the judges checked their blood pressure before signing anything. that bellator 214 night in inglewood? i was there with my cousin who still owes me forty bucks from the bet i lost on the undercard, and what i saw wasn’t some green kid tapping late — it was a grown man absorbing punishment like a sponge just so he could fire back a split second later. that wasn’t “choking,” that was maturity arriving mid-fight, and a month later he was back in rio grinding his teeth down the middle of a trilogy we’re still replaying frame by frame. now moscow? yeah the finish stings, but how many of us have watched makhachev thread needles for fifteen minutes without blinking? alex doesn’t fold — he learns on the fly, even if the lesson’s written in red letters. pressure ain’t something you “handle,” it’s something you carry until you drop it in the right spot, and brother’s been carting that weight since the phone-charger days.

You think you're watching tape like some judge with a clipboard? Bro, I had front row seats in Rio when Pantoja smoked Jalin Turner in the third, right after that Makhachev shellacking everyone keeps bleating about. That night I was sweating through my shirt because Turner looked like he hadn’t been in the cage since a high school wrestling meet, and halfway through round two Pantoja dropped him with a single leg no one saw coming. Sure, Moscow stings—hell, we all saw that tap—but you know what I scribbled in my notebook right after Dantas put him away in Inglewood back in '19? One word: growth. That guy doesn’t melt under bright lights; he just learns what color the wall is before he starts repainting it.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, let’s park the bellyaching about Moscow for five bloody minutes and look at what the man’s ACTUALLY done when the chips are DOWN—not the second the bell goes. That Makhachev loss? Yeah, he got caught late, but who the hell doesn’t in a chess match like that? I remember sitting in the T-Mobile Arena that night, heart in my mouth as Islam threaded those leg kicks like they were on rails while Pantoja’s boxing was MIA. Then—BAM—third round knees, Pantoja walks away with style and a remodelled chin. That’s not choking; that’s absorbing a masterclass and still finding a way to steal a round because the man’s got ice in his veins. Now, us yapping about pressure like it’s a bloody personality flaw—give me a break. This isn’t some coffee-shop quarterback saying Usman got out-switched. Pantoja’s been in wars from Panama to Inglewood to Moscow, and the bloke still gets paid more than half the welterweight roster because sponsors don’t bet on panic—they bet on results. And let’s not pull the “he tapped to a guillotine” card when half the division would’ve been tapping from a stiff breeze after three minutes of Dantas’ pressure in ‘19. That wasn’t robbery; that was a seasoned pro walking into a furnace, getting his ribs cracked, his ego singed, and STILL coming back to finish the trilogy like it was a pub brawl. So spare me the “pressure hero” hot takes until you’ve actually watched the man take punches, make adjustments, and land bigger ones in the same damn fight. The next time someone bleats about two losses, remind them: Pantoja’s last eight bouts read like a highlight reel of “come at me, bro,” and until someone stands toe-to-toe and drops him clean in under three minutes, the overrated label can sod off to the footnotes where it belongs. 💸😏

Man, you lot are *really* reaching for Moscow 😱🤬 Usman’s still out there getting out-switched by a grappling robot and no one bats an eye, but two late-night taps and suddenly Pantoja’s public enemy #1? Nah nah, that 0-15 in round 10 was some tragic timing, pure adrenaline-fueled bad luck! 🔥 And *Bellator 214*? Dantas had every style to wreck him—we’re talking two-time champ grappler—so yeah, the kid took a shellacking before replying late. That’s not “pressure meltdown,” that’s raw *grit* baby! 💪 Half these hot-takers forget the Trilogy *started* with him nearly finishing Dantas in the first damn round! And Turner? Bro walked out of Rio with a highlight-reel single leg after a *razor-thin* loss to Makhachev—growth isn’t a straight line, it’s scars with shoes on! 😤 Usman’s out here dancing like a ballerina while our man’s been back in the deep end *sharking* ever since Panama. Pressure? Pfft! 🎤 The belt purse laughs in your face when you say “choke.”

gotta love how some blokes out here will squint so hard at a single frame of the tape they forget the whole damn film. TerraceSince86, you’re acting like Moscow was some fluke of the universe when the man’s been shipping losses every few years since the pennies were still rattling in his pocket. Yeah the Turner finish was a beauty, but let’s not pretend that trilogy with Dantas started with a near-finish—it started with Dantas dropping him clean with an overhand then putting him away when the ref should’ve stopped it ten minutes earlier because Alex looked like a car crash in slow mo. And Makhachev? Sure he threaded leg kicks like they were sewing needles, but when Pantoja dropped those knees in round three nobody remembers how close Islam got him in two and a half before that—Moscow wasn’t some cosmic left turn, it was round ten of getting picked apart because the chessboard was tilted and the clock ran out before he could tilt it back. you lot keep singing “growth” like it’s a get-out-of-jail card, but growth looks like improving, not just surviving a bullet.

Those Moscow judges didn’t even give him the courtesy of a standing count when Makhachev locked that guillotine at 4:57 of round 10—they literally pointed at the finish before the replay even loaded. Meanwhile half these armchair refs want to rewrite history like the tap happened at 0:05 instead of at 4:57, forgetting the man was already down 0-15 on the cards going into that round.

Man, sitting here with a lukewarm pint in front of me, watching the rain slide down the window like it’s washing away the last week’s worth of hot takes online. I’m nodding right along with TerraceSince86 on this one—Usman swivel-hipped and dipshitted his way out of the top spot and nobody blinks, but as soon as Alex blinks once every three years we’re all suddenly performance-art analysts with goddamn clipboards. That Usman clinic against Leon Edwards? Three rounds of ballet while Edwards landed 13 significant strikes a round. Meanwhile Pantoja goes toe-to-toe with Dantas in Panama, eats a guillotine like it’s a slice of cake, comes back two months later in Rio and drops Turner with a single leg so clean the judges themselves flinched because they weren’t ready for it. I was there at the HSBC Arena, stood in the press section with my mate who swears he’s the reincarnation of João Roque—real football ref turned octagon fanatic—and when Alex turned to us after that turner tap, grinning like he’d just won the lottery, we both knew: this guy thrives on the bullshit narrative getting flipped on its head. Moscow hurts, sure, but you ever try watching the card unfold frame by frame without blinking? Islam’s leg kicks weren’t some telekinetic spell; they were a metronome set to seventeen minutes. Alex fought through it, gave up two points early on the cards, then dropped knees so sharp in round three even the judges paused mid-write. That isn’t choking—that’s auditing the fight live while a master’s conducting the orchestra, and still walking out with two rounds on your card. The man’s résumé already reads like a cheat sheet for resilience: beaten Dantas twice inside distance, outgunned Turner with a move no one saw coming, took Makhachev’s best shot and still stitched a round onto the board. Two losses in ten pro fights. You telling me half the welterweight roster hasn’t got twice that blemish and still gets paid to show up? Hell, even the judges couldn’t kill that spirit.

Just got back from the pub in town where half the lads were still going on about Pantoja getting “found out” in Moscow like it’s some earth-shattering revelation we all missed. Thing is, I had front row seats for that Makhachev scrap and—between us—I’m still not sure how Islam didn’t walk away with every round. The man was cooking Alex like a Sunday roast for the best part of two rounds, and what did our man do? Landed body knees so crisp in the third that even the judges had to put their pens down and check the replay. That’s not choking—that’s shipping a body shot in round two and still breaking the bank in round three. And Moscow? Dude was down two cards, starched by leg kicks, and still crawled out of that hole instead of tapping the towel like half the division would’ve done with ten minutes of Dantas pressure on their ribs. Then you get some armchair refs bleating about his 0-15. Mate, that guillotine came at 4:57—give the bloke a bloody medal for lasting that long against the most unguardable grappler in the game. Meanwhile Usman’s out there letting Leon Edwards slap him silly for three rounds straight and we’re all meant to nod sagely because it’s “brilliant boxing.” Spare me the hypocrisy. Alex’s losses read like a masterclass attendance sheet: learn the lesson, sharpen the blade, and come back twice as hungry. 💸😏

Mate, you lot are WATCHING the wrong fights if you think two late taps make the man a choker 😭😂 Pantoja’s last ten? Highlight reel city! Dantas in Panama? Nearly out in round one—then KO in round four. Turner in Rio? Razor-thin split, then Pantoja drops him with a single leg so clean judges flinched! Makhachev? Got cracked in round two, then waded in for three brutal knees to steal ROUND THREE while Islam’s leg kicks were dialed to eleven! 🔥 And now you cry “Moscow” like it’s some cosmic punishment 💀 Dude was down 0-15 going into that round, took body shots for nine minutes straight, then still lasted till 4:57 before tapping. Meanwhile half this division would’ve tapped at 2:30 from the same pressure! Pressure hero? Bro’s been back in the deep end SHARKING since Panama, taking wars no one else wants, landing bigger shots after getting cracked! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Fair dinkum, if you lined up Pantoja’s last two dozen fights and circled every round where the crowd thought he was about to fold, the man would still be standing—while half the rest of the division is sprawled across their locker rooms scrolling through highlights on their phones. The Moscow guillotine? Five minutes to four that round, Alex was already down two cards, taking body shot after body shot like he was the heavy bag in Usman’s private gym, yet the ref didn’t even check his legs until the tap. That isn’t a choke, that’s clock management at its most brutal—he lasted 4:57 against the most unguardable grappler on the planet and still forced Islam to land the first clean finish of the night. Dantas in Panama? Round one sees him nearly out cold; round four sees Pantoja celebrate with one finger raised over a finished champ. Turner in Rio? Split-decision, then a single leg that made the judges jump. Makhachev? Two brutal rounds of leg kicks, then three knees so sharp they paused the collective breath of HSBC Arena before judges penciled in that stolen round. The numbers, for those who actually run the tape: two losses in the last two dozen fights, both by late submissions when the cumulative damage already weighed heavier than the tap itself. That’s the résumé of someone who treats pressure like a personal coach—beat you in round two, I’ll leave enough juice to drop you in round four. You tell me which other welterweight can say the same without gasping for air halfway through.