There's no doubt about it now: We're officially living in the Joshua Van era.
Van, the UFC flyweight champion, defeated former champ Alexandre Pantoja in their highly anticipated rematch, scoring a unanimous decision victory to retain the title in the UFC 331 main event Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
The judges scored the fight 49-46, 48-47, and 50-45 in Van's favor.
Van took the belt off Pantoja in anticlimactic fashion at UFC 323 last December, when Pantoja suffered an injury 26 seconds into the fight and couldn't continue. On Saturday, however, Van earned a convincing win to cement himself as the top flyweight in the world.
"Doubt me now," Van said in his postfight interview. "Shoutout to Pantoja. Nothing but respect from me. He's a tough motherf----r, man. He's hard to finish."
Van defended the 125-pound title for the second time after beating Tatsuro Taira by fifth-round TKO at UFC 328 in May.
The rematch between Van and Pantoja will go down as one of the best fights of the year. Van relied on his crisp boxing to secure the career-defining victory, outlanding Pantoja 181-147 in significant strikes and 259-159 in total strikes.
Pantoja completed five of 18 takedown attempts and accumulated over nine minutes of control time, but the former champion didn't offer much offense on the ground. Van's defense held up when he needed it most; he stayed on his feet during pivotal moments of the fight and did significantly more damage than Pantoja in the stand-up department.
Van finished the fight with a strong fifth round in which he dropped Pantoja with a left hand.
The 24-year-old Myanmar native has won eight in a row dating back to September 2024. The victory over Pantoja lifted his professional record to 18-2 and his UFC record to 11-1.
Pantoja returned to the Octagon for the first time since UFC 323 and has now lost back-to-back fights for the first time in his pro career. The 36-year-old Brazilian recorded four successful title defenses before facing Van nine months ago, solidifying himself as one of the greatest fighters in the division's history. Pantoja fell to a career 30-7.
