UFC flyweight champion Joshua Van has given his thoughts on Alexandre Pantoja’s freak injury that he suffered at UFC 323.
In the co-main event of UFC 323, Joshua Van became the new king of the flyweight division at just 24 years of age. However, the manner in which he did it was something of an anti-climax, as Pantoja fell on his arm and suffered a nasty-looking injury that rendered him unable to continue.
As you can imagine, the attention has turned to Joshua Van vs Alexandre Pantoja in a potential rematch down the line. Before that, though, Tatsuro Taira could well be in line for a shot of his own given that he was able to defeat and finish Brandon Moreno on the UFC 323 main card.
In his post-fight press conference appearance, Joshua Van had the following to say on how everything went down on Saturday night.
Joshua Van reacts to Alexander Pantoja’s UFC 323 injury
“Like I said, this whole week was kill or be killed. I knew I was going to win this fight, but I didn’t want the fight to end that way, for sure,” Van told MMA Junkie and other media at the UFC 323 post-fight press conference. “As soon as he’s recovered, I want to run it back because I respect him so much. He’s one of the greatest of all time, and things like that, so I do want to run back with him.”
“He looked great tonight,” Van said when asked about Taira. “Like I said, I do want to give the champ, I mean, I am the champ now – but I do want to give Pantoja the rematch, for sure, but like I said, whatever the UFC wants. Whatever it is, they got my number.”
“F*ck them,” Van said to the critics. “If you do good, they’ll talk sh*t, and if you do bad, they’ll talk sh*t, so do what makes you happy. It don’t matter what they think, I won.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
Get ready, folks, because a new era is upon us in the electric flyweight division.