Joshua Van's UFC 331 performance has left several fighters in awe.
Van (18-2 MMA, 11-1 UFC) retained his flyweight title by defeating Alexandre Pantoja (30-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) for a second time in this past Saturday's main event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Jorge Masvidal sees Van as possibly one win away from surpassing Demetrious Johnson as flyweight GOAT, despite their resumes not equating. Former UFC bantamweight champion O'Malley also sees an undeniable future for Van.
"Joshua Van's got to be one of my favorite guys to watch right now," O'Malley said on his YouTube channel. "He's going to go down as the greatest flyweight of all time. He's going to go down as possibly one of the best fighters, pound-for-pound, of all time. He's 24 years
old, and he just beat a very dangerous Pantoja, who (was) a little emotional, a little chaotic, a little crazy, but he doesn't gas out because he keeps the same pressure. He does that in a lot of his fights. That was such an exciting fight."
Van is expected to defend his title against streaking finisher Manel Kape next. Van outlasted Tatsuro Taira and Alexandre Pantoja in title fights, and O'Malley doesn't see Kape being able to dethrone him.
"I don't think many people are going to (give him a war)," O'Malley said. "Tatsuro Taira gave him a war, Pantoja gave him a war. Manel Kape, is he next? ... I guess he's capable of giving him a war like that. Is that fun? Is that exciting? Is that cool? That is exciting. That's a fun flyweight title fight. I think it's going to be hard to beat Van because his boxing is so slick."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean O'Malley: Joshua Van will 'go down as the greatest flyweight of all time'
