Alexandre Pantoja was looking for flyweight title defense number five when he took on Joshua Van in the co-main event of Saturday’s UFC 323 in Las Vegas.
The fight was second-to-last on the final Pay-Per-View card of the ESPN era (and for at least the next seven years for the UFC, as they shift to Paramount+), at the second to last UFC card of the 2025.
Champion Pantoja came out looking for a fast start, firing a leg kick and getting into a few early exchanges with Van. That hot start and frantic pace backfired for “The Cannibal” however, as the fight ended as quickly as it started. Pantoja fired a head kick, then went off-balance, falling to the mat. He tried to post on his arm, which appeared to either dislocate or break in the process. An injury TKO ensued as a result, with Pantoja unable to continue, leaving Joshua Van as the winner by default.
A terrible turn of events of everyone except Joshua Van, who is now the new UFC flyweight champion – the second youngest UFC champion at 24, behind Jon Jones, in history.
No question, that fight will need to be run back once Alexandre Pantoja is healthy. While Van did push Pantoja while he was going down, there’s little question this one was a freak injury more than anything. “He’s one of the greatest of all time, I didn’t want the fight to go that way,” Van told Joe Rogan post-fight.
Official Result: Joshua Van def. Alexandre Pantoja by TKO (injury), Round 1, 0:26
