Antonio Carlos Junio♍r’s year started with losing. He lost his first fight back after a 16-month layoff — his third in a row — and then the former “The Ultimate Fighter” winner lost his spot on the UFC roster.
But 2021 could end with a monumental victory for Carlos Junior (12-5, nine finishes), who is a victory away from the $1 million prize for winning the light heavyweight division championship in Professional Fighters League’s season-ending event on Wednesdaౠy night at Seminole Hard Rock Ho♉tel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla.
Carlos Junior told The Post recently via Zoom that coming into the year healthier after several injuries and surgeries played a key role in his surge of success. But moving u⛄p from middleweight for the first time since the end of 2014 played a pivotal role as well.
“I think that affected my performance asඣ well because I used to cut a lot of weight: 35 pounds,” Carlos Junior says, perhaps with a hint of regret. “I don’t think that was good for me, and I feel way better now at 205, healthy, happier. The performance is better in the fight, the training, everything.”
Shortly after his release, which came in the weeks after his Janඣuary loss via decision to Brad Tavares, Carlos Junior expressed a desire to rather than compete as an undersized light heavyweight. But PFL’s offer to compete in its 205-pound division this season — the only 185-pound season was contested three years ago — was too good to pass up.
Carlos Junior won his season debut on April 29, picking up the maximum six standings points with a first-round submiss꧑ion o൲f fellow UFC veteran Tom Lawlor, earning his way back into the win column for the first time in just over three years. His other regular-season bout on June 17 ended in a no contest due to an accidental groin strike from which opponent Vinny Magalhaes could not recover. In the semifinals on Aug. 27, he outpointed 2019 PFL season winner Emiliano Sordi to punch his finals ticket.
Ultimately, Carlos Junior sees his smaller size for the division — he’s still 6-foot-2 and walks around at roughly 220 pounds — as an asset considering he is making his fourth trip down to 205 pounds after already having made the miౠddleweight limit to start 2021.
“Especially for this kind of system — the tournament — you’ve gotta make the weight four💦 times a year, it’s very good because you don’t [have to] lose a lot of weight,” Carlos Junior said.
All who stands between the 31-year-old and a seven-figure payday is Marthin Hamlet, an unheralded 205-pounder whose path to this point was, well, strange. After aꦛn impressive second-round submission victory via arm-triangle choke in his PFL debut, Norway’s Hamlet (8-2, six finishes) lost via third-round tapout but had earne🌄d enough points in the standings to advance to the four-man playoffs.
In the semifinals in October, Hamlet picked up a win without doing much of anything. Opponent Cezar Ferreira, a former “TUF” champ and ve❀teran UFC middleweight like Carlos Junior, suffered an unusual, non-contact hamstring injury 13 seconds into the bout, crumbling to the ground before Hamlet quickly finished him with a TKO.
While “disappointed” for Ferreira and the fact that the opportunity for the two Braz🗹ilians to square off with the big prize on the line, ജCarlos Junior is focused solely on Hamlet.
“I hope [Ferreira] is well, but now I just think about the right way to beat Marthin Hamlet,” Carlos Junior said. “I know his way to the final was a little weird, but he w♔as doing very well [in] the fight he lost. He was doing very well, actually. I think [in] the third round, he got tired.”
Carlos Junior is a sizable favorite to score what is by far his biggest career payday — one that’s rare even for the bulk of 🀅the UFC roster. He says he made $43,000 to show for his final UFC bout against Tavares and could have doubled that with a victory.
Coming into the season, Carlos Junior was viewed as one of the strongest 𓂃contenders to win the championship, even returning to light heavyweight for the first time in more th💞an six years.
“I was confident, believing that I could get into the finals and get this belt,” Carlos Junior said. “I always believed [in] me. In UFC, I believed in me, and now ಌis the same. Nothing changed.”