Figuring Out the First Title Defense for 'The Fearless' and His UFC Flyweight Championship
Current men’s Flyweight Champion Joshua ‘The Fearless’ Van has yet to defend his belt. ‘The Fearless’ claimed the belt from former champion Alexandre ‘The Cannibal’ Pantoja at UFC 323’s co-main event after Pantoja broke his arm in the first round of his fifth title defense. Social media banter between Van and potential opponents has fueled fight fans to theorize who his first challenger might be. While unceremoniously winning the belt, he has the chance to course correct his controversial title win by laying out top contenders in the men’s Flyweight Division. Here are three challengers who would test Van’s title reign.
Manel Kape
Manel ‘Starboy’ Kape and Van have gone back and forth on social media since the latter won the men’s Flyweight Championship. Both men have verbally agreed to fight each other on various social media platforms while jabbing some insults in the mix. ‘Starboy’ was originally slated to take on Brandon ‘Raw Dawg’ Royval at UFC 317, which was a title eliminator match to set up ‘The Cannibal’s’ title defense at UFC 323. ‘Starboy’ pulled out of the match with Royval, who was the top-ranked men’s flyweight at the time, after the former suffered a foot injury in training camp that required surgery and rehab. Van replaced Kape and took the Royval fight on short notice. Not only did Van win via unanimous decision, but that bout is a Fight of the Year contender for 2025. Van and Royval stood in front of one another and traded devastating blows, and fight fans expect that same energy if ‘The Fearless’ and ‘Starboy’ battled it out for the gold.
Tatsuro Taira
The fight before UFC 323’s co-main event happened to be another men’s flyweight bout. Tatsuro ‘The Best’ Taira became the first person to finish former two-time men’s Flyweight Champion Brandon ‘The Assassin Baby’ Moreno and secured a controversial TKO in the second round of their fight. Since his UFC debut, ‘The Best’ has won eight of his nine fights; six of his eight wins didn’t see the judge’s scorecards. He has an even split of knockout and submission wins. Taira has the tools to be a champion and has experience in beating a former champion. Van's ground game was supposed to be tested in his title fight against Pantoja, but this is a great alternative to see what his ground game looks like. Van also has to worry about the power in Taira’s strikes. ‘The Best’ could potentially be too much for ‘The Fearless’.
Alexandre Pantoja
Maybe the reason the UFC has yet to book Van’s first title defense is that they want to gauge the former champion’s return. The men’s Flyweight Division was Pantoja’s division. With a literal chokehold on the division before his freak accident, ‘The Cannibal’ was building a dominant Flyweight Championship reign slightly reminiscent of Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson. In most situations, a severe injury would lead a former champion to have a tune-up fight before getting their shot at recapturing the gold. A champion of Pantoja’s caliber deserves an immediate title rematch. The “fight” between ‘The Cannibal’ and ‘The Fearless’ wasn’t really a fight. Thankfully, Pantoja didn’t need surgery. He hasn’t faced any setbacks currently, and he has begun to light spar as of earlier this month. He has even stated that he wants to fight sometime in May or June. This lines up with a potential bout at UFC 328 or the White House card if rehab goes well. ‘The Fearless’ needs to prove that he can beat a healthy ‘Cannibal’.
