{"id":657971,"date":"2026-05-08T15:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/657971\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T15:28:09","slug":"joshua-van-wants-to-see-ufc-give-alexandre-pantoja-a-rematch-in-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/657971\/","title":{"rendered":"Joshua Van wants to see UFC give Alexandre Pantoja a rematch in the future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van wants the promotion to give Alexandre Pantoja a rematch when he\u2019s healthy to return.<\/p>\n<p>This weekend, Joshua Van will try and silence his doubters when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/joshua-van\/joshua-van-discusses-joy-over-the-growth-of-asian-mma-ahead-of-ufc-328\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he goes head to head<\/a> with Tatsuro Taira with the UFC flyweight championship on the line. The youngster has had to face questions ever since he won the world title, which came his way courtesy of a nasty injury sustained by Alexandre Pantoja.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/manel-kape\/manel-kape-rips-joshua-van-tatsuro-taira-respectful-ufc-328-press-conference\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Manel Kape rips Joshua Van, Tatsuro Taira for \u2018respectful\u2019 UFC 328 press conference<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Alas, while his focus is now squarely on getting through Taira, Van understands better than anybody that Pantoja is waiting in the shadows for his chance to get the gold back \u2013 especially after he had such an iconic reign with the belt.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview, Van had the following to say about Pantoja\u2019s case for a title shot at some point down the road.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Van\u2019s view on Pantoja rematch<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is over with,\u201d Van told MMA Fighting. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m just focusing on Taira. Like I said, me and Pantoja going to run it back anyways after this fight. I don\u2019t think about that no more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFacts,\u201d Van said about Pantoja deserving the rematch. \u201cHe dominated the division. It\u2019s only right they give him the rematch. Yeah, I really hope me and him can run it back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Quotes via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/ufc\/486695\/joshua-van-moved-on-from-bizarre-ending-to-alexandre-pantoja-fight-but-argues-its-only-right-ufc-gives-him-the-rematch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">MMA Fighting<\/a><\/p>\n<p>While many will choose to dunk on him for the manner in which he became champion, there\u2019s no denying that Van is willing to walk through fire in order to prove himself at the elite level. Hopefully, he at least gets an opportunity to showcase his talents on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you believe would win a rematch between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja, and why? Let us know your thoughts on this in the comments below, BJPENN Nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van wants the promotion to give Alexandre Pantoja a rematch when he\u2019s healthy to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-657971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}