Is Joshua Van the man to dethrone UFC Champ Alexandre Pantoja?
Time will tell, but if we know anything, it’s that Myanmar’s Joshua Van will likely get the next title shot at 125 lbs.
Out of the flyweight rankings a few months ago, the 23-year-old Van skyrocketed to #1 in the world after defeating former title challenger Brandon Royval at UFC 317 in June.
Van called his shot right after and got a face-off with champion Alexandre Pantoja, who also won that night.
Pantoja’s grappling-heavy style has proven insanely hard to beat and it will be very interesting to see how Van’s game translates to his. Van has 81% takedown defense and has the highest strikes landed per minute in the UFC at 8.86.
The only person that’s been able to stop Van in the UFC so far, just won last weekend.
Charles Johnson says former foe Joshua Van can give Alexandre Pantoja problems
Van has a nearly perfect record of 8-1 in the UFC, with his sole loss coming to Charles Johnson 13 months ago at UFC Denver.
Van had a decent start to the fight but got caught with an uppercut in the final round, suffering the first KO loss of his career.
Johnson, who KO’ed Lone’er Kavanagh at UFC Shanghai, believes Van is still the same fighter that fought him that night. However, looking at a fight with Pantoja stylistically, Johnson says Van can find success.
“I definitely think he could give Pantoja problems,” Johnson said of Van in an interview with Bloody Elbow.
“Pantoja is phenomenal from the back. If he gets your back and he gets his hooks in it, he can finish anybody in the world from that position. He’s very, very strong there.
“His takedown offense isn’t as great,” Johnson said of Pantoja.
“He has to push you to the cage to get that takedown. And what he does a lot of times in fights is he bullies people towards the cage, gets them on the cage and uses the cage to take people down.
“So with Van, he’s got that forward pressure. I think it is a good matchup for Van. I think it’s a good matchup for both,” Johnson added.
“They both have a clear avenue of success. For Van, keep it in the middle, keep pushing them back and keep them in front of him. He could touch them all night, I think.”
“With Pantoja, his style is just a bully style. He’s the biggest bully in all of MMA,” Johnson added.
“So on that night, it’s going to be who shows up and who’s able to keep the fight in their realm. And Pantoja has tools to win and so does Josh.”
Charles Johnson’s advice to Joshua Van before title fight
Van has yet to go into the championship rounds but Johnson suggests his former rival is ‘probably built for five rounds’.
“That’s going to be a fun thing to see because we’ve seen Pantoja slow down a little bit in the fourth and fifth [round], but not much. He still is grappling really hard and still getting a hold of people…”
When the time comes for him to fight Pantoja, Johnson says his best advice to Van would be to keep the fight in the center of the Octagon.
“Cody Durden showed us a lot,” Johnson mentioned a common opponent between him and Van.
“Cody’s a high level wrestler and when [Van] kept it in the center, Cody couldn’t take him down.
“I think that’s a big thing. Van, if you see this, keep it in the center and I think you will have a lot of success,” Johnson said.