Joshua Van realized his dream of becoming champion with a win at UFC 323 but he didn’t exactly get the satisfaction of beating Alexandre Pantoja after he suffered a gruesome arm injury just 26 seconds
into the fight.
As soon as the fight was over and Van was declared the winner, he proudly celebrated with the flyweight title around his waist. His reaction was met with a rash of criticism from fighters and fans alike, who were seemingly upset that he was strutting around as champion without actually defeating Pantoja in the octagon.
While Van didn’t seem to care much about the reaction to his celebration, UFC legend Matt Brown definitely understands why the 24-year-old flyweight reacted the way he did.
“To be honest when it’s for a title like that, I don’t want to hate on Joshua Van for it,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Because here’s what the fact is — this dude has spent his whole life, a very short life of his, about half of mine — even if not his whole life for the last however many years, his entire life has been on getting to this single goal, which is an exceptionally high goal.
“This isn’t ‘I want to have a million dollar net worth by the time I’m 30’ or some shit. This is an insanely hard to reach goal and he got it. How he got it, does it really matter? They put a belt around his waist. This is what he dreamed about. This is what he visualized. This is what he put the work in for. So I can understand that side.”
While Brown never won a UFC title during his career, he scored more than a few ultra-violent knockouts including when he clubbed Diego Sanchez with an elbow strike that planted the former Ultimate Fighter winner face first on the canvas.
Fighters often face criticism for celebrating in a moment like that with an opponent still unconscious with the potential for serious injury but Brown understands the incredibly intense emotion that comes along with a huge win.
That’s why Brown doesn’t fault Van for reveling in that moment, although admitted he doesn’t believe he would have done the same thing.
“On a personal note, I would like to think as myself wouldn’t be so happy,” Brown explained. “Because you want to win the fight for it. But I can understand him being as happy as he is.
“I would like to think I would not do that. I think on the inside he’s not as happy as he would be if he went out there and beat him. But you’re in the moment. You’re in an arena full of 20,000 drunk ass bloodthirsty fans and your adrenaline is skyrocketed and it all happened for you. I can understand it. I’d like to think I wouldn’t do it but I can understand where you would be so excited.”
Following the event, Van acknowledged that he hoped Pantoja wasn’t seriously injured and they’d be able to run it back again one day in the near future.
Brown believes that’s probably the most disappointing part about this whole ordeal is that Van now holds the UFC title and he’s recognized as the champion but it’s unlikely he’s actually being considered the best flyweight in the world.
“It kind of reminds of Anderson Silva broke his [leg] on Chris Weidman and he was kind of celebrating. It’s the same type of thing,” Brown explained. “If you go walking around talking about how you beat him like I love Chris Weidman, no disrespect to him, I love him, but I think it kind of rubbed some people the wrong way when he was saying he did that intentionally. What did he call the technique? Some term for it. That’s a little silly, in my opinion.
“But the fact that you reached the mountain that you’ve been trying to climb for so long, it doesn’t really matter how it happens. The fact that you got there is something to celebrate, something to be happy about.”
At this stage there’s no telling when Pantoja might be able to fight again as he awaits a diagnosis on the full extent of the injuries he suffered and how long it will take him to recover.
Until then, Van moves forward defending the title and that might help him truly solidify his championship reign after a disappointing conclusion to the UFC 323 co-main event.
“What I would like to think I would do myself, I would be stoic about it and relax,” Brown said. “I’m the champion so f*ck you but there’s not a ton to celebrate here. The belt is supposed to signify that you are the baddest dude in the weight class in the world. If you don’t beat the dude who has been recognized as the baddest dude in that weight class in the world, then are you really?
“But on the other hand, it’s like when it goes down in the history books and people look at the records 100 years from now, they’re not going to know what happened. They’re going to see Joshua Van’s name and see he was a champion. I would hope he settles down and [says] ‘I really didn’t earn this but I am the champion so f*ck you, I am the champion.’ There’s not as much to celebrate there.”
