Joshua Van Defends Title After War with Pantoja

The champion overcame the former titleholder’s strong start to win by unanimous decision

Joshua Van successfully defended his UFC flyweight title by defeating former champion Alexandre Pantoja in the main event of UFC 331 in Los Angeles.

Pantoja started extremely aggressively and secured a takedown within the opening seconds, but Van gradually began finding answers to his pressure. As the fight progressed, the champion’s boxing started to make the difference, with his jab and combinations finding the target more and more frequently.

Pantoja continued looking for takedowns and managed to keep Van on the ground for an extended period in the fourth round. The champion, however, remained composed and continued to perform strongly on the feet. In the fifth round, Van further asserted his dominance when a powerful right hand dropped Pantoja to the canvas. The former champion managed to escape and continue the fight, but Van did not slow down, with the two exchanging strikes until the final second.

After 25 minutes, the judges were unanimous in favor of Joshua Van — 49-46, 49-47 and 50-45. The champion therefore recorded a successful title defense against the former titleholder, who showed tremendous durability and caused problems with his grappling, but was unable to stop Van’s boxing from gradually taking over the fight.