When Alexandre Pantoja said he’d “be back sooner than you think” he wasn’t lying.
The former UFC flyweight champion is already back in the gym despite suffering a gruesome arm injury in his title fight opposite Joshua Van at UFC 323 last weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. It took just 26 seconds for Pantoja to violently injure his arm, force an early and unfortunate stoppage to the fight, and relinquish his 125-pound title over to Van in the process.
In case you missed it you can watch it again HERE.
Pantoja,
who turns 36 early next year, snapped an eight-fight unbeaten streak with the loss to Van and now finds himself without UFC gold heading into 2026. The talented Brazilian fighter will have to heal up his nasty arm injury before making his return to the Octagon, but that may be sooner than most initially thought. Van is still expected to defend his UFC flyweight title against Tatsuro Taira next instead of waiting for an immediate rematch with Pantoja.
On Friday, video footage surfaced of Pantoja already back in the gym. The former UFC champion can be seen wearing protection on his injured arm, but that didn’t stop the Brazilian veteran from lifting weights and breaking a nice sweat. Pretty impressive for a guy who is just one week removed from losing his belt and suffering one of the worst injuries in UFC title fight history.
Check out Pantoja’s return to the gym below (via Instagram):
