Antonio Carlos Junior is ready to finally re-enter the PFL cage, and he returns a much bigger star in Brazil.
“Shoeface” competed under the UFC banner for many years after winning the third season of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, a reality show that aired on Brazil’s largest network TV Globo in 2014. Nine years later, Junior entered ‘Big Brother Brasil’ instead, an incredibly successful program that has reached billions of fan votes and 10-figure advertisement deals for Globo in just over two decades.
“I’m glad to see people that weren’t following the sport but are now following it [after BBB],” Junior said on MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast. “I feel that I’ve represented the sport well, making it more popular, and that alone makes me happy — and it’s even better than I have more fans with me now.”
With over 2,2 million followers on Instagram after being on the TV show, “Shoeface” hopes to help taking Professional Fighters League to free-to-air Globo in 2024. The MMA organization has inked a deal with Globo-owned pay-per-view network Combate in 2023, a channel that also broadcasts Bellator, ONE, KSW and other events after ending its contract with the UFC in late 2022.
“That would be great, man, I’d love it,” said Junior, the 2021 PFL light heavyweight champion. “Globo is a huge company and has partnered with another great company in PFL. The UFC has gone down a lot since leaving Combate, many people no longer watch it, and started watching PFL, Bellator, ONE. [PFL] has everything it takes to grow here in Brazil.”
“Shoeface” won back-to-back fights in the 2022 season of the PFL before a knee injury forced him out of the remaining of the year, cancelling a match with Omari Akhmedov. Junior took a year off in 2023 to rehab his knee — and be part of Big Brother Brasil — and he misses the action.
Junior said he has discussed the idea of competing on the first PFL card of year, possibly in February with PFL and Bellator champions colliding, but was advised by his team to wait for the start of the regular season in April instead. “Shoeface” is currently training in his hometown of Salvador, Brazil, and will return to Florida in January to start his camp at American Top Team.
“I can’t wait to fight again,” Junior said. “The PFL format is different from other promotions because the season starts in April and ends in November, so we have to be ready to fight four times in a matter of months. There are some Bellator fighters coming, and adding it to PFL roster, it boosts the company even more in the market. It will make the sport more competitive. We have great fighters in Bellator, we have great fighters in PFL, so this partnership with be harder for fighters, more competitive, and that’s better for the fans. Fans will get better fights.”
“The UFC will never concede, it will always say they’re the best, that they have the best fighters,” he continued. “They’re the older organization, PFL is younger, but you see many UFC champions or contenders migrating and losing, so there are many fighters that sometimes aren’t known by fans that in reality are way tougher. UFC has great fighters, no doubt, but PFL and Bellator are not far behind.”