Van Eyes Dominant Title Run After UFC 331

Joshua Van has a chance to silence his doubters and start an epic title run when he faces Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 331 on Saturday.

Van won the flyweight belt from Pantoja nine months ago when the Brazilian suffered an arm injury 30 seconds into their bout. Since then the 24-year-old champion stopped Tatsuro Taira in his first defense — a performance that convinced some observers he has reached a new level. MMA Fighting's Alexander K. Lee wrote that Van "showed just how much Van has leveled up and, more importantly, that he's still improving and fast."

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Can Van Dominate Flyweight Long-Term?

The three MMA Fighting writers agreed Van could be special but disagreed on whether the division's depth allows anyone to truly dominate. Damon Martin noted that "flyweight just has too many great fighters for anybody to really, truly dominate the weight class," pointing to dangerous contenders like Manel Kape, Ramazon Temirov and Asu Almabayev. Jed Meshew countered that Van has ideal timing — young enough to keep improving but already champion during a changing-of-the-guard moment at 125 pounds.

Meshew pointed out that young champions historically age into long reigns because their early-twenties version was already good enough to win the belt. "If the worst version of you is good enough to be the champion, every subsequent version will be better, and thus likely to remain champion," he wrote.

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The co-main event features Arman Tsarukyan against Mauricio Ruffy in what was announced as a lightweight title eliminator. But the writers noted that a win may not guarantee either fighter the next shot at Justin Gaethje. Lee wrote that "there are never any guarantees" when it comes to UFC matchmaking, especially with rematches against Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira still on the table.

Van joined the UFC in 2023 and won the title in less than three years. A second win over Pantoja on Saturday would go a long way toward erasing the asterisk from their first meeting.

Reported via:

• MMA Fighting — UFC 331 roundtable: Can Joshua Van become one of the faces of the UFC?