UFC 331 goes down on Saturday, headlined by a flyweight title rematch between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja. For Van, it’s an opportunity to cement himself as the true king at 125 pounds, while Pantoja hopes to reclaim the title he lost to injury.
So, let’s take a look at how each man can approach things and leave Los Angeles as champion.
Paths to Victory for Joshua Van
Joshua Van was a bit of a revelation in 2025. Seen as a super-talented prospect, many believed the then 23-year-old was a future UFC champion — they just didn’t expect it to come so soon.
Van tore through the flyweight division, earning his shot at Pantoja in December, and, through no fault of his own, became champion when Van dislocated his elbow moments into their fight. It’s not the best way to win a UFC title, but if there were any lingering questions about Van’s legitimacy, he answered a lot of them by punishing Tatsuro Taira in his first title defense earlier this year. Now Van can silence all the doubters and kick off a new era of flyweight on Saturday.
But it’s not going to be easy. Van is basically a flyweight version of Max Holloway, and as we recently saw with Holloway, one of the best ways to mitigate his high-output boxing game is to ground him. Charles Oliveira took Holloway apart by being capable enough on the feet to get into clinches, then scoring takedowns and dominating positionally. Pantoja’s game is a little rougher around the edges than Oliveira’s might be, but that’s still the basic texture of how he fights, and Pantoja is also far more durable than Oliveira.
For Van to win, he’ll need to make this fight look a lot like his bout with Taira: keep it on the feet as much as possible, use butterflies to get back to the feet ASAP when you are taken down, and punish in the striking. The biggest thing for Van will be not turning his back to stand up. Pantoja excels at moving to back control, and once he gets it, that’s it for Van — either he loses the round, or he loses the fight.
Offensively, Van can just do what he does, and it should be highly effective. Pantoja has never been a defensive wizard, and Van puts so much volume out there that he’ll land a ton. But I’d also love to see him commit to the body work like he started doing against Taira. Pantoja has a great chin, but fire enough rib roasters into anyone and eventually they’ll break. That’s Van’s best shot at a stoppage.
Paths to Victory for Alexandre Pantoja
Contrary to Van’s comments, Pantoja is not the greatest flyweight of all time — he’s the second-greatest. That’s still one heck of an achievement, especially given the long and winding road it took for him to get the belt in the first place. But perhaps what’s even more impressive about Pantoja is that once he won the belt, he somehow became less cautious and even more exciting.
Pantoja has always been an exciting fighter, but it seems like once he won the title, he was determined to make people love flyweights again with a total lack of effs to give. The final form of Pantoja is relentless aggression and all-out offense, which poses a serious threat to Van, but also to Pantoja himself.
While it’s possible Pantoja could win a pure striking matchup with Van, it’s not likely. Pantoja’s striking is more about being incredibly durable and extremely willing than it is about tons of technique. But Van has been knocked out before and is happy to engage in brawls at times, so Pantoja could catch him.
I think there’s a better plan, though. Taira is not nearly as effective a striker as Pantoja, but he had some success using his kicks at range, because Van is almost pure boxing. In my head, the plan for Pantoja would be kicks at range to score, then short bursts of brawling with Van when he comes in past kicking range, and use those exchanges as an opportunity to change levels and get the takedown. From there, just be yourself and see if Van’s defense is good enough to hold up.
Heading into this fight, I’ve got one big question on each side of the cage that I don’t know the answer to, but could well determine the winner.
For Van, the question is simple: Is he fighting too much?
This will be Van’s 8th fight in two years, and his 6th fight in 18 months. That is an absurd pace to keep up, and one that isn’t really sustainable. In the history of MMA, fighters who are this active almost always get tripped up. It’s simply too hard to cut weight that much, train that much, and repeatedly get up for fights without having an off night. While talented fighters can do that and get away with it at the lower levels, once you’re at the top, that doesn’t fly anymore. Just ask Merab Dvalishvili.
The question for Pantoja is perhaps even simpler: Is he too old?
Father Time comes for us all, and while Pantoja’s injury was a fluke, he’s still closer to 40 than he is to 30, and fighting a guy 12 years his junior. History suggests that even if the way he lost the title was weird, the MMA Gods were simply working in mysterious ways.
My head believes that Alexandre Pantoja should win this fight. Van is a great fighter, but Pantoja is greater and has more ways to win. Even with Van showing improving skills and championship mettle, Pantoja is the more proven combatant, with a clear stylistic advantage he can exploit.
But my head also has a voice in the back of it that won’t shut up, and that voice has a resounding message: “Old fighters don’t get better, young ones do!”
Pantoja is, at best, the same version of Pantoja we saw in December. At his worst, Van is still a tough fight for that guy. But because he’s 24, Van might be significantly better this time around. Young fighters can improve in leaps and bounds in a short period of time. Pantoja can’t. Maybe he’s still good enough to hang on and get this one, but even if Van isn’t any better than his last fight, that’s a battle. And if Van has improved? Pantoja is in trouble.
Joshua Van def. Alexandre Pantoja via unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 49-45)
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