A rumor about UFC fighter Alexandre Pantoja beating Islam Makhachev went viral recently. The picture that is being circulated has gotten fans to think that Pantoja has once knocked out the current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
It is an absolutely fake piece of news as Makhachev has only been knocked out once in his professional career and that was against Adriano Martins. Now, if we were to connect some dots, the inspiration for the meme or the fake story could have come from the fact that Adriano Martins and Alexandre Pantoja look a little similar.
While most people understood the humor behind the meme, there were some who genuinely believed it and started to search for the historic fight that never happened.
never forget when Alexandre Pantoja KO’d UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev despite being 3 divisions smaller‼️
Just how good is Pantoja⁉️🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/ufDv5LxhSH
— WAR POIRIER/GAETHJE 🇺🇸💎💥 (@DanaIsBIack) July 3, 2023
Fight fans have an idea that it was really difficult for these two to compete against each other. The Dagestani fighter plays in the Lightweight division of the UFC and at the same time, Pantoja competes in the Flyweight division. So, it is not even viable for the champion fighters to have a potential match-up.
Both Alexandre Pantoja and Islam Makhachev are title holders in their respective weight divisions. Islam Makhachev got hold of the belt by beating Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 and then defended it against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284.
Alexandre Pantoja’s flyweight title is very recent as the Brazilian fighter defeated archrival Brandon Moreno to become the undisputed champion at UFC 290.
Brendan Schaub thinks Alexandre Pantoja knocked out Islam Makhachev
Former UFC fighter and comedian Brendan Schaub often finds himself in funny situations. This time around, Schaub fell prey to the fake news about Alexandre Pantoja beating Islam Makhachev. Not only did he believe it, he went around quoting it in multiple podcasts. MMA fans found it very funny when Brendan Schaub quoted it in front of UFC champion Dominic Cruz and got absolutely no reaction.
Things got even more hilarious when in a conversation with fellow comedian Bryan Callen, Schaub again decides to quote the fake news to praise Pantoja. This time, even Callen claimed that he had watched the match that Schaub was talking about.
That is legitimately funny how they kinda look alike
— Edward Lygma (@dvrdsscks) July 6, 2023
So, essentially, there were two men praising Pantoja for a match that he never won because it never happened. The MMA community on Twitter did not fail to take a dig at Schaub for spreading this misinformation which was completely unintentional but hilarious at the same time. This is a classic example of how careful one has to be with information and their sources especially if they are quite big on social media.