Myanmar’s Van defeats Pantoja to retain flyweight title in UFC 331

Joshua Van earned a unanimous determination (49-46, 49-47, 50-45) triumph implicit his Brazilian hostile to cement his reign.

Joshua Van enactment connected a striking masterclass to unafraid a unanimous-decision triumph implicit Alexandre Pantoja and clasp his flyweight rubric successful UFC 331 successful Los Angeles, arsenic the 24-year-old from Myanmar settled the people with the erstwhile champion aft their archetypal combat ended with a freak injury.

Undisputed flyweight champion Van cemented his reign atop the 125-pound (56.7kg) division, defeating the Brazilian via unanimous determination (49-46, 49-47, 50-45) successful the main lawsuit connected Saturday night.

Pantoja had suffered an accidental elbow dislocation 26 seconds into their archetypal combat successful December past year, resulting successful Van becoming the UFC flyweight champion without an outright triumph implicit the Brazilian, who had reigned implicit the part for astatine slightest 2 years.

Van, the archetypal UFC champion from Myanmar, defended the loop against Tatsuro Taira successful May but was near waiting to seal his presumption arsenic the champion successful the part arsenic 36-year-old Pantoja recovered from the injury.

“A batch of radical said that was an accidental triumph … well, uncertainty maine now,” Joshua said aft his 2nd rubric defence, which extended his nonrecreational MMA grounds to 18 wins and 2 losses.

Pantoja took Van down successful the archetypal circular earlier landing dense punches and knees successful a fiery exchange, arsenic Van retaliated with a slicing elbow.

“You’re excessively bully to brawl with this guy,” Van’s coaches told him during the break, suggesting a much tactical approach.

Joshua Van punches Alexandre Pantoja successful their flyweight title bout [Luke Hales/Getty Images via AFP]

Van peppered Pantoja with left-handed jabs successful the 2nd circular and rocked the Brazilian with a fluid operation of punches successful the third. Pantoja controlled the 4th circular arsenic helium took Van down but was incapable to taxable him.

In the last round, Van stalked Pantoja and knocked him down with an overhand right, securing the triumph connected the judges’ scorecards.

In the co-main event, Armenian contender Arman Tsarukyan staked his assertion for a changeable astatine the lightweight rubric erstwhile helium pinned Mauricio Ruffy to the cage, rocked him with a near elbow and knocked him retired with a close elbow with 4 seconds to spare successful the archetypal round.

“I knew my clip would come, truthful I was patient,” said Tsarukyan, who extended his triumph streak to six fights, arsenic helium called for a bout with champion Justin Gaethje.

In featherweight action, erstwhile four-time, two-division Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull (38-9 MMA) earned his archetypal UFC stoppage win, dismantling South Korea’s Dooho Choi via full knockout (TKO) wrong 3 minutes and 28 seconds of the opening round.

Brazil’s Pitbull overwhelmed Choi with crisp measurement striking earlier landing a devastating close manus that forced the referee to measurement successful and halt the contest. Pitbull snapped a three-fight finishing streak for Choi, a promotional mainstay who has competed nether the UFC banner since 2014.

In the heavyweight division, Sean Sharaf pulled disconnected 1 of the year’s astir stunning upsets, needing conscionable 12 seconds to daze Gable Steveson with a first-round TKO.

Steveson entered the Octagon arsenic a monolithic betting favourite, but Sharaf caught him instantly successful the opening exchange, unleashing a blistering flurry of strikes that forced a lightning-fast stoppage. The 12-second decorativeness marked the third-fastest knockout successful UFC heavyweight history.

A visibly frustrated Steveson refused to stay wrong the Octagon arsenic Sharaf had his manus officially raised, portion Sharaf celebrated the landmark triumph successful beforehand of an electrical crowd.