Joshua Van dominates Alexandre Pantoja to retain UFC title

LOS ANGELES -- UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van defeated Alexandre Pantoja in their first fight 10 months ago. Van beat Pantoja in the rematch too.

Van (18-2) defended his 125-pound title in the main event of UFC 331 on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena, dominating Pantoja (30-7) in the five-round contest on the judges' scorecards of 50-45, 49-46 and 49-47. The result cleared up any doubts from their first bout, which Van won via TKO in 26 seconds when Pantoja dislocated his elbow after falling awkwardly to the canvas.

"Don't let your circumstances define your life," said Van, 24, who was born in Myanmar and immigrated to the United States. "A lot of people said it was an accident win the first time. Doubt me now."

According to UFC CEO Dana White, Saturday's event drew a sellout crowd of 19,357 for a live gate of $8.3 million. The figure set a record for Crypto.com Arena, breaking the previous mark of $6.5 million for a Bad Bunny concert in March 2024.

"He's the greatest thing for this [flyweight] division," White said of Van. "He brings a lot of flash and excitement and fun to this division. That was a great fight. I was like, 'Holy s---, it's the fifth round.' It's fun when that happens in five-round fights."

Van's most obvious next title challenger is Manel Kape (23-7) of Angola, who is on a four-fight win streak, all coming by knockout.

Pantoja, 36, had cemented himself as one of the best flyweights of all time when he ran into Van last year. The Brazilian defended his flyweight title four times before the unfortunate injury in December, and he spent all year recovering and preparing to set things right on Saturday. He fought aggressively throughout, repeatedly closing the distance with punches and shooting for takedowns.

Van handled Pantoja's pressure beautifully. According to UFC Stats, he defended 13 of Pantoja's 18 takedown attempts and outlanded Pantoja in total strikes 259 to 152. Even when Pantoja did put him in bad positions on the ground, Van calmly worked through them and even attempted a leg lock against the submission specialist in the second half of the fight.

"Shout out to Pantoja; nothing but respect," Van said. "He's hard to finish. I did my submission; I don't know how he got out of that s---. I just wanted to prove a point, again."

Although Van won handedly on the scorecards, the result felt uncertain going into the fifth. Van saved his best work for the final five minutes, expertly dictating range on the feet and dropping Pantoja with a right hand midway through.

The victory marks Van's second title defense this year. He knocked out Japanese challenger Tatsuro Taira in the fifth round of their Fight of the Night meeting at UFC 328 in May.