Joshua Van Defends Flyweight Title Against Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 331
Joshua Van kept the flyweight belt the long way this time.
The champion defeated former titleholder Alexandre Pantoja by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 331 on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
The official cards read 49-46, 48-47, and 50-45.
Their first meeting at UFC 323 last December lasted 26 seconds. Pantoja dislocated an elbow after Van caught a high kick and the fight was stopped.
Van heard the noise that followed.
“A lot of people said that was an accidental win the first time,” Van said.
Saturday was the answer. Five rounds. No early injury. A volume fight that turned into a beating as the minutes piled up.
Pantoja still had moments. He landed the cleaner low kicks early, found a late takedown in one round, and tried to drag the champion into the grappling exchanges that built his first title run.
Van stayed in the center and threw combinations. The output gap grew every round. By the fifth, Pantoja was absorbing five-punch bursts and answering with single shots.
ESPN’s totals showed Van landing 181 significant strikes to 147. Pantoja held 9:11 of control time and went 5-of-18 on takedowns. The judges still gave the champion the night.
Van moved to 18-2. Pantoja fell to 30-7.
The 24-year-old from Myanmar, fighting out of Houston, now has two wins over the man who defined the division after Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo traded the belt.
He also has a fifth-round TKO of Tatsuro Taira from May at UFC 328. That defense was a war. This one was a statement about pace.
Pantoja is 36 and still one of the most decorated flyweights alive. He did not get the rematch he wanted. He got five full rounds and still could not outwork the younger champion.
The first title change was an injury. The second was a decision that did not need an asterisk.
Van’s striking volume has become the problem at 125 pounds. Pantoja’s wrestling could not erase it for 25 minutes.
No next challenger was named in the cage. Taira already had his shot. The rest of the division now has to prove it can survive the combinations that carried Van through Pantoja twice.
Pantoja will decide whether a third meeting is worth another camp. Van leaves Los Angeles as the undisputed flyweight champion with a clean five-round win on the résumé.
The accidental-win talk is finished. The title is not.