Joshua Van forced a changing of the guard in the flyweight division at UFC 323 when he ended the dominant reign of Alexandre Pantoja – but not in the way anyone could’ve predicted.
Van (16-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) became one of the youngest champions in company history with a first-round injury TKO win over Pantoja (30-6 MMA, 14-4 UFC), who suffered a dislocated elbow, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, becoming just the sixth champion in divisional history.
Check below for the top X (formerly Twitter) reactions to Van’s unfortunate title win vs. Pantoja at UFC 323.
UFC 323: Alexandre Pantoja breaks arm, Joshua Van wins title
The UFC 323 co-main event had an unfortunate end with Joshua Van claiming gold after Alexandre Pantoja was injured.
OMG. Pantoja just injured his arm throwing a kick in the opening seconds and has lost the flyweight title to Joshua Van by TKO.
— Andreas Hale (@AndreasHale) December 7, 2025
Awful. Completely gutted for Pantoja, and surely not the way Joshua Van wanted to be crowned champion. Sucks, man. #UFC323
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohn) December 7, 2025
Pantoja injured in the opening exchange and he waves the fight off. Left arm looked pretty nasty. Tough way to lose the belt, but Joshua Van is the new champion. #UFC323
— Adam Hill (@AdamHillLVRJ) December 7, 2025
OMG! Pantoja dislocated his elbow.
That hurts to watch. 😵
#UFC323
— Diana Belbiță (@DianaBelbita) December 7, 2025
WELLLLLL. Joshua Van is now the 2nd youngest champion in UFC history at 24 years, 1 month, and 27 days (J. Jones: 23 years, 8 months, 1 day). #UFC323
— Michael Carroll (@MJCflipdascript) December 7, 2025
JOSHUA VAN IS THE NEW FLYWEIGHT CHAMPION AFTER STARTING 2025 AS AN UNRANKED FIGHTER.
HE IS THE FIRST FIGHTER BORN IN THE 2000s TO WIN A TITLE AND THE 2ND YOUNGEST IN UFC HISTORY BEHIND JON JONES. #UFC323 pic.twitter.com/IGCP0LYBNI
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 7, 2025
At 26 seconds, Van’s win over Pantoja is the fastest title fight finish in flyweight history, beating out Henry Cejudo’s 32 second knockout of TJ Dillashaw.
It is the third fastest finish in flyweight history overall.
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) December 7, 2025
Van been averaging 5 fights a year let’s see if he can beat Merab’s record as a champ
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) December 7, 2025