ALEXANDRE PANTOJA: HOMECOMING KING

He started fighting professionally when he was 17 years old; another poor kid looking to find a way out of an all too familiar situation, and showed promise early on, winning seven of his first eight appearances before losing to another emerging Brazilian force, Jussier Formiga.

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Seven straight victories following that setback brought Pantoja to the United States for the first time, where a pair of wins earned him the Resurrection Fighting Alliance title, the distinction of being the first Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) flyweight champion, and a place on Season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter, where he was the top seed in the 16-man tournament to determine who would get to challenge Demetrious Johnson for the UFC flyweight title.

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Though he didn't win the reality TV competition, he's been in the UFC ever since, and while he's fought in the United States, Scotland, Chile, Argentina, Canada, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates during that time, Pantoja has yet to be back to compete in his home country of Brazil… until now.

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"I left Brazil with nothing, now I'm back with the crown, as the king, with the belt; champion of the world in the most important MMA promotion, back to my country, my town," said Pantoja, who defends his flyweight title against Stephen Erceg in the main event of UFC 301 on Saturday night at Farmasi Arena in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro. "In my neighborhood, Copacabana, I have banners with my name - people send me pictures; it's so cool.

"This doesn't happen with everyone," he added, the excitement tempered, his tone shifting to the genuine gratitude he feels to be able to experience a week like the one ahead of him leading into Saturday's event. "It's not every champ that can do that, especially if you're not American."

While the champion always cited Rocky Balboa as one of his cinematic inspirations as he chased down, won, and has since successfully defended the flyweight title, Pantoja points to a different film as representative of everything he's been through, everything that has led up to this homecoming moment.

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"All my life, God gave me the people and the answers, like that movie where one guy tries to win one million dollars on a TV show and he knows all the answers, but he never studied," said the champion. "You know that movie?"

The film he's referring to is Slumdog Millionaire, the 2008 British drama loosely adapted from Indian author Vikas Swarup's novel Q&A that tells the story of a young boy from the slums to the set of the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, where the trials and tribulations of his life have given him all the answers he needed in order to win the grand prize.

"I feel my life is like that movie because God gave me the answers in my life," continued Pantoja, whose path to the top of the flyweight division began with the decision to relocate to South Florida in order to train under Marcos da Matta at American Top Team and included a detour or two along the way. "I lose, I have bad moments, I cry, I'm back to Brazil, working a lot of jobs, but, at the right moment, I know the answers because I lived that.

"I can't believe God gave this moment for me — back to Brazil, first time I fight for the UFC in Brazil, with my belt, like a champ, like a king; this is incredible for me.

"You don't make a movie with that — you need to make a book, with a lot of chapters; that's the only thing I can say," he added excitedly. "I worked a lot for this to happen."

The work wasn't always confined to the mats at ATT, either.

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At one point during his march towards the title, Pantoja opted to make a little additional money on the side by driving for Uber Eats, which became a "Can You Believe It!?" story for many covering the sport.

But when asked about the experience, the flyweight champion is quick to detail how that period of his life was just another chapter in the story of his rise to the title, one that imbued him the strength he needed to take those final steps and claim the belt last summer.

"That made me so much stronger, that moment, because when I fought (Brandon) Royval, I didn't have my ACL, couldn't train a lot, was driving Uber — it made me so strong," recalled Pantoja, who was in line to challenge Brandon Moreno for the title following that victory before surgery forced him to the sidelines, resulting in the prolonging of the series of battles between Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo, and Pantoja needing to earn another victory in order to re-affirm his place in the pecking order.

"Now it's a different moment. Now I order Uber Eats whenever I want. My kids come in and say, 'Daddy, I want to order something,' and I say, 'Go ahead.

"This moment, for me, is more than a dream," added the champion, his exuberance turned to introspection. "I never dreamed about this. I'm not lying when I say, 'I never dreamed of the belt.'

"This happened for me. I worked for this to happen. Before I dreamed, I worked."

Now that work has brought him home to Brazil, home to Rio de Janeiro, home to UFC 301, where he's eager to face off with Erceg in a fresh matchup for both himself and the division.

"It's super-weird," Pantoja said, laughing when asked how it feels to not be prepping for a rematch with an opponent named Brandon after having faced Moreno for a third time and Royval for a second time in his last two outings.

"But it's so good for me to have an opponent like Steve Erceg right now because he's new, fresh, and this is good for him because he doesn't have battles like me. He hasn't (been in wars) like I was with Royval, Moreno, Manel Kape, Alex Perez, Deiveson Figueiredo, Askar Askarov, Wilson Reis.

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"He has just three fights in the UFC, but he did so well, fighting with good names," continued Pantoja, offering his assessment of his Australian foe, who punched his ticket to this weekend's main event with a second-round knockout win over Matt Schnell at the start of March to move to 3-0 inside the Octagon and 12-1 overall. "I trained thinking about how good Steve Erceg is going to be, especially because he's fighting in my town, in front of my crowd, for my crown.

"I see him like a giant and I'm ready to fight a giant."

He's also ready to make the walk and compete in front of a rambunctious, partisan crowd.

"I have a friend who is a fighter that told me, 'I like to think about the day after the fight because everything is over,'" began Pantoja, explaining the excitement he feels as Saturday continues to draw nearer. "I didn't answer him, but I thought to myself, 'I want the day of the fight; that's why I train so hard.'

"I love fighting for the crowd, I love fighting for people — that why I started to fight; I want people to watch my art. This chance to go to Brazil, have everybody with me — I can feel it. In the center of the Octagon, I can feel all the vibes.

"I'm going to be unstoppable that night. He can't beat me that night. I just want May 4 to come for me."

In the film version of this evening, Pantoja would emerge victorious, likely rallying from near-defeat to score a dramatic fifth-round stoppage win when that was the only outcome that would allow him to retain his title.

The crowd would erupt, the music would swell, and the local boy that left home to chase a dream would stand triumphant in the center of the Octagon.

But this isn't a movie; it's real life, and a real fight, and the only thing Pantoja knows for sure as he heads into battle this weekend is how he's going to feel standing across the cage from the challenger, and that he's more than ready to head into battle once more.

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"I don't know; I need to live it," he said when asked how it will feel to stand victorious on Saturday night. "What I do know is when Bruce Buffer announces, the referee says, 'Fight!,' in that moment, I can say to you what is going to happen: I'm going to feel like Dragon Ball, Goku, all the energy coming for me.

"That feeling I can say to you, I know what's going to happen, but after that, I don't know what's going to happen.

"All I know is that I'm super-ready and I'm ready for the best Erceg."

As for the ending, that part remains unwritten, for now.