Joshua Van is sitting at the top of the heap in the UFC’s flyweight ranks, and a fighter with a win over Alexandre Pantoja would love a cross-promotional throwdown with the reigning UFC kingpin Van someday. The combatant in question is Hiromasa Ougikubo, who bested Yuki Motoya at RIZIN Shiwasu no Cho Tsuwamono Matsuri to win the vacant RFF flyweight championship and the Rizin flyweight grand prix on December 30th.
Ougikubo had mentioned heading into this recent fight that he wanted the public to see the Rizin flyweight Grand Prix champion as someone who could defeat the UFC champion. When contextualizing that with his prior win over ex-UFC champ Alexandre Pantoja from years ago on The Ultimate Fighter, Ougikubo said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“So if for some crazy reason, if this is allowed, like you mentioned I want to fight Joshua Van if possible. But you know, obviously that’s a very hard hurdle to go by. So I think there still a lot of flyweights out there that aren’t in the UFC but still have potential and are really, really tough, you know. So I would like to continue to fight those guys in Rizin and continue to prove that Rizin has the best flyweights and this is where the competition is.”
While the idea of a cross-promotional bout with the UFC seems supremely unlikely, when breaking down how that clash with Van might hypothetically play out, Ougikubo stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“So obviously Joshua Van is a very hard striker with heavy hands, you know. He likes to utilize his hands. So if this fight were to happen I would definitely engage in his strengths and his strong points along with mixing in my strong points. Eventually take him down and go for the finish.”
Joshua Van has his next UFC title bout locked in now
Joshua Van is set to defend his UFC strap for the first time, but it won’t be against the man he claimed it from. Many felt that Alexandre Pantoja would get an immediate rematch considering his dominant reign with the belt, but also the injury-related loss that saw him drop the strap to Van. But a surging Japanese contender will be getting the next crack at gold.
Tatsuro Taira will battle Van for the flyweight crown at UFC 327 on April 11th. The 24-year-old aims to author his first title defense over the third-ranked contender with eight UFC-specific wins, with Taira coming off a win over former UFC champ Brandon Moreno.