Alexandre Pantoja eager to reclaim belt he lost to

Alexandre Pantoja and Joshua Van hope their struggle Saturday at Crypto.com Arena will last longer than 26 seconds.

It has been 9 months since their first bout, which ended in less than a minute because of a Pantoja injury and made Van the UFC flyweight champion. Pantoja goals to reclaim the belt he lost at UFC 331, with the main event starting at 6 p.m. and streaming on Paramount+.

Pantoja dislocated his elbow when he fell while attempting to defend against one of Van’s strikes on Dec. 6 at UFC 323 in Las Vegas. The struggle ended immediately.

Van celebrated profitable the 125-pound title, but both fighters walked away from that evening feeling everybody deserved more than the untimely end result.

Pantoja, of Brazil, has not competed since that evening. He has spent most of the past 9 months recovering from the injury, while Van efficiently defended his title once against Tatsuro Taira in May, profitable by stoppage in the ultimate spherical.

“It’s been [nine] long months,” Pantoja said. “I’ve been working hard. And at a certain point, I think that after two years as champion, five title fights — almost six title fights — at a certain point it’s good to take some time off, enjoy my family, enjoy myself. But at the same time, I’m really hungry to win again.”

Pantoja said he returned to the fitness center two days after that first struggle. Although the injury saved him out of the octagon, he didn’t need to keep away from training for too long because he said that would have made it more durable to get back to combating at the championship degree.

During his time out of the octagon, he noticed how the division modified.

“I see a lot of good fights. We’re seeing the top 10 change almost completely,” Pantoja said Wednesday. “I see incredible fights in the flyweight division. And I think this Saturday, with my fight against Joshua Van in the main event here in Los Angeles, is very special.”

Van, meanwhile, enters the rematch coming off a five-round championship bout.

“I’ve been working on my ground game, and you’ll see it,” said Van, who holds twin American and Myanmar citizenship. “I tried it in the fight against Taira, but I didn’t quite pull it off. But this time, you’ll see a different level from Joshua Van.”

The champion’s confidence stays undiminished, as he sees the rematch as an alternative to put any debate surrounding that first struggle in 2025 to relaxation and show his place in the division.

“When I beat him, I’ll be one of the greats in this division, and then the next challenger will come and try to take the belt from me,” Van said.

Pantoja said Van has modified since December, highlighting the struggle against Taira and noting the champion has refined facets of his combating fashion.

Joshua Van celebrates after defeating Alexandre Pantoja in a flyweight title bout during UFC 323 on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.

(Ian Maule / Getty Images)

“I think Van definitely evolved a lot after our fight,” Pantoja said. “He had the fight against Tatsuro Taira; I think he evolved and corrected some mistakes he made in that fight. So I think it’s going to be completely different.”

Pantoja doesn’t contemplate himself the same fighter who will face Van.

“The drive is always the same,” Pantoja said. “I’ve had the same drive since I was a kid — I’ve always wanted to fight the best fighters in the world. The drive is the same; it’s just that I think I’m much more mature now.”

Pantoja said Van is a top-tier fighter, but he believes the injury prevented both of them from displaying every thing they had been succesful of.

“He’s an incredible fighter,” said Pantoja, 36. “When you watch Joshua Van fight, his expression never changes — he always tries to stay in control. And that proves just how good you are.”

Although Pantoja formally lost that evening, the injury modified the course of the struggle before it may actually get underway.

“I injured my arm. I know that, as an athlete, I lost that fight, and now I have the opportunity to fight world champion Joshua Van — and that’s what I want. I want him at his best because I’m at my best too,” Pantoja said.

Tensions have escalated since their first encounter.

At a news convention in August in Los Angeles, the fighters received into an exchange that pressured UFC president Dana White to intervene. Pantoja stood up from his seat after Van interrupted him, but the scenario didn’t escalate into a bodily confrontation.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m his dad,” Van said. “He was being respectful before the fight, and I don’t know what he’s doing in interviews and stuff like that to make me look like the bad guy.”

Pantoja supplied a different clarification.

“He does a very good job,” Pantoja said. “He needed a lesson. When I stood up, I tried to teach him a lesson. I’m from the ‘90s. Back then, if you didn’t respect your mother or father, you’d get a slap.”

Despite the disagreement, both have shown respect for their opponent’s abilities. Van described Pantoja as a “very, very dangerous” fighter.

“He’s going to be motivated, he’s going to be hungrier, and I think this will be the best Pantoja we’ll see,” Van said. “So I’m very well prepared for this fight.”

Pantoja, for his half, is aware of he’s going through a champion who’s already had the possibility to show he can go the gap for 5 rounds. The Brazilian also considered Van’s struggle against Taira as a source of insight for his preparation.

“An incredible fight, very good,” Pantoja said of his 24-year-old opponent. “I think it’s a good fight for all the fans. It showed me something, but I know Joshua Van is very young and can fix a lot of things from that fight.”

For the Brazilian, the purpose this weekend is clear.

“At the end of the day, what matters is the victory,” said Pantoja. “However it plays out — whether it’s by decision, split decision, KO or submission — I think the closer we get to the fight, the less those things matter. The closer we get to the fight, the championship doesn’t matter anymore, the money doesn’t matter — all that really matters is the win.”

Van doesn’t count on to let the struggle go to the scorecards.

“I don’t think it’ll go five rounds; I’ll finish it within the first three rounds,” he said confidently. “It’ll be by knockout or submission, but I’m leaning more toward a knockout.”

If Pantoja regains the championship, he would change into only the third flyweight champion in UFC historical past to reclaim the belt after dropping it, becoming a member of Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno.

For the Brazilian, returning to Los Angeles also holds personal significance. He recalled that it was the first metropolis he visited when he arrived in the United States in 2014 and that, back then, he slept in a fitness center.

Now he’ll return as a title challenger in the main event of UFC 331.

“It’s so nice that people see where I started here and see how far I’ve come,” Pantoja recalled. “For me, the best part is being the same guy I was when I arrived here in 2014; I’m the same guy right now, and I’m very happy and proud of myself.”