Joshua Van showed he is truly one of MMA’s great champions at UFC 331.
For nine months, Van had to listen to talk of his title fight win over Alexandre Pantoja being a fluke due to Pantoja suffering an arm injury less than 30 seconds into their first meeting; on Saturday, the flyweight champion answered all questions about his legitimacy as he outworked Pantoja for five rounds en route to a riveting decision win.
Pantoja, the once-dominant champion, gave Van everything he could handle, frustrating him with smothering wrestling and at times matching Van blow-for-blow on the feet. But the younger, more explosive fighter gradually pulled away as the bout progressed, stinging the resilient Pantoja with combo after combo until scoring a decisive knockdown in the fifth and final round to seal the deal.
Paulo Costa put it best on Twitter, writing, “Van is on another level.”
See more of the pros awed social media reactions below.
Watching fight Great fights. Van is another level .. pic.twitter.com/gIkK7pEeAc
— Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) September 20, 2026
Man, Joshua Van really is him! Kudos! Congrats to the young champion! 🤘🏼
— Dustin Jacoby 🇺🇸 (@thehanyakdj) September 20, 2026
#AndStill#CryptoCom#UFC331pic.twitter.com/W8P544FPRM
— danawhite (@danawhite) September 20, 2026
Van looked very sharp in the final round he did more than enough to take that one
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) September 20, 2026
50-45 is crazy but that was a great fight van vs kape is gonna be all hands
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) September 20, 2026
50-45…… horrible judging.
— Cody Durden (@Cody_Durden) September 20, 2026
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Van won the fight for sure but 50-45??? What… #UFC331
— Torrez Finney (@punishertorrez) September 20, 2026
FOTYYYYYYY!!! I FUCKIN LOVE THIS SPORT.
Flyweights >>>>#UFC331— Jeff Molina (@jmolina_125) September 20, 2026
Van just keeps delivering classics. Becoming the peoples champ!
— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) September 20, 2026
Thinking about this bus story from a year ago and now I get to get on here and say that Joshua Van is the greatest flyweight of all time #UFC331https://t.co/TG6THYaIYR
— Zac Pauga (@ZacPauga) September 20, 2026
What a fight, What a card, What a fucking sport #UFC331
— Arnold billy allen (@Arnoldbfa) September 20, 2026
Wow!!! What a fight, Joshua Van is really impressive. He could be the champ for a while 👊👊
— Funky 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@Benaskren) September 20, 2026
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