Joshua Van left UFC 328 in Newark, N.J., with his flyweight title intact and his sights set on a likely rematch with former champion Alexandre Pantoja.
Van, who first faced Pantoja in December when he was the challenger and Pantoja held the UFC flyweight belt, reclaimed the spotlight in the UFC 328 co-main event by defending his title against Tatsuro Taira via fifth-round TKO.
Their first meeting was brief and brutal. The bout lasted less than 30 seconds and ended when Pantoja suffered a serious arm injury while throwing a kick that was caught by Van, a sequence that gave Van the UFC flyweight title.
Speaking at the UFC 328 post-fight press conference, Van revisited that night and the fallout with Pantoja. "I walked up to him because when I was celebrating, I didn't know his arm was like that," Van said. "After I saw his arm on the screen, I walked up to him. I said, 'Sorry.' He says, 'Sorry,' this and that, the next thing you know, he waited three months, and then he came and do little interviews. His 'Panocha' hurt, so he’s saying a lot of sh*t now, so I don't know what's up with him."
Van added that he recently saw Pantoja again. "I saw him yesterday. There's no hate from me. I talked to him. I shook his hand, but I don't know what he's got in his head."
With Pantoja rehabbing his arm and a second fight expected to be next, Van summed up the stakes simply: "The Pantoja fight, I wouldn't wish that on my own enemy."
