Joshua Van shocked the world when he dethroned Alexandre Pantoja to claim the flyweight title. Then he defended it against Tatsuro Taira. The question hanging over UFC 331: could he do it to Pantoja twice?
“Van did not just beat Pantoja again. He removed all doubt about who rules the flyweight division.”
The answer was emphatic.
Van took over down the stretch to earn a unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 50-45) on the cards. The two slugged it out for the full 25 minutes and both left bloody — a war Van sealed late. The performance earned both men Fight of the Night honors.
For Pantoja, it was a bitter night. The former dominant champion came determined to reclaim his throne, and Van had to earn it the hard way — surviving 9:11 of Pantoja's top control and five takedowns to win the striking war down the stretch.
For Van, it is the second defense of a reign that keeps getting more impressive. At his age, he is already the second-youngest champion in UFC history, and back-to-back wins over Pantoja — one of the great flyweights of all time — put him firmly in the conversation about the division's future.
The flyweight division has a way of producing rematches that settle nothing. This one settled everything. Van is not a fluke champion who caught lightning once. He is the best 125-pounder on the planet, and the gap between him and the rest of the division looks wider than ever.
The question now is not whether Van can beat Pantoja. It is who, if anyone, can beat Joshua Van.
