Joshua Van may not have won the UFC flyweight title the way he had hoped, but the newly crowned 125-pound king is ready and willing to defend his strap right away.
Last weekend, Van put the finishing touches on his flyweight ascension by knocking off UFC champion Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 323 in Las Vegas, Nevada, to claim the 125-pound title. The only problem is that Van won the belt after Pantoja suffered a nasty injury to his arm just 26 seconds into the fight. Pantoja was unable to continue and Van walked
away with the UFC flyweight title by default.
Don’t worry, Pantoja is already back in the gym.
After the fight, Van caught some flack because he initially celebrated the victory. Many fight fans thought he should have been more concerned with Pantoja’s well-being, but in Van’s defense he didn’t know what had happened until after the fact.
“At first I was just celebrating the win of me getting the belt,” said Van during a recent interview with ESPN MMA (shown in the above player). “When I looked back at Pantoja, I walked up to him and I said, ‘Hey man, I’m sorry the fight went this way.’ But at the same time, I was happy with me fulfilling my dream. It was mixed feelings, but I do want to run it back with him.”
“I didn’t see his hand at first when the ref stopped it. I just celebrated,” he added. “After that, I saw the screen of his arm just popping out of place. So that’s when I walked over to him and said that I’m sorry.”
Van, who now enters 2026 as UFC’s flyweight champion and undefeated over his last six trips to the Octagon, has a variety of options at his disposal. UFC CEO, Dana White, already confirmed that Van will defend his 125-pound crown before a rematch with Pantoja, which could mean a matchup with Tatsuro Taira or the winner of Brandon Royval vs. Manel Kape this weekend (results HERE).
Either way, Van will be ready to defend his UFC title (sooner rather than later).
“I want to fight in February,” he said. “Come to Houston if they want to get the belt that bad. Come fight me for it.
“I do want to give the former champ a rematch, but it’s whoever wants the belt come fight me for it.”
