Is Joshua Van the person to dethrone UFC Champ Alexandre Pantoja?
Time will tell, but when we all know anything, it’s that Myanmar’s Joshua Van will likely get the following title shot at 125 lbs.
Out of the flyweight rankings just a few months ago, the 23-year-old Van skyrocketed to #1 on the earth 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’s going to be very interesting to see how Van’s game translates to his. Van has 81% takedown defense and has the best strikes landed per minute within the UFC at 8.86.
The one individual that’s been capable of stop Van within the UFC to date, just won last weekend.
Charles Johnson says former foe Joshua Van may give Alexandre Pantoja problems
Van has a virtually perfect record of 8-1 within the UFC, together with his sole loss coming to Charles Johnson 13 months ago at UFC Denver.
Van had an honest begin to the fight but got caught with an uppercut in the ultimate round, suffering the primary KO lack of his profession.
Johnson, who KO’ed Lone’er Kavanagh at UFC Shanghai, believes Van continues to be the identical fighter that fought him that night. Nonetheless, 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 on the earth 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 quite 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 believe it’s a very good matchup for Van. I believe it’s a very good matchup for each,” Johnson added.
“They each have a transparent avenue of success. For Van, keep it in the center, keep pushing them back and keep them in front of him. He could touch all of them night, I believe.”
“With Pantoja, his style is only a bully style. He’s the largest bully in all of MMA,” Johnson added.
“So on that night, it’s going to be who shows up and who’s capable of keep the fight of 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 enter 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 decelerate a bit of bit within the fourth and fifth [round], but not much. He still is grappling really hard and still getting a hold of individuals…”
When the time comes for him to fight Pantoja, Johnson says his best advice to Van can be to maintain the fight in the middle of the Octagon.
“Cody Durden showed us loads,” Johnson mentioned a typical opponent between him and Van.
“Cody’s a high level wrestler and when [Van] kept it in the middle, Cody couldn’t take him down.
“I believe that’s a giant thing. Van, if you happen to see this, keep it in the middle and I believe you’ll have quite a lot of success,” Johnson said.