Alexandre Pantoja: UFC 327 chance for Joshua Van to prove he's champ
Alexandre Pantoja is not ready to call Joshua Van UFC flyweight champion just yet. Van (16-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) dethroned Pantoja by injury TKO at UFC 323 this past December after Pantoja dislocated his left elbow just 26 seconds into the fight. The plan was to have Pantoja (30-6 MMA, 14-4 UFC) immediately run things back with Van, but after the Brazilian initially informed the UFC that he wouldn't be ready in April, the promotion went a different direction.
Van makes his first title defense against Tatsuro Taira in the UFC 327 co-headliner on April 11 in Miami. "The UFC asked me about the fight, but if I can remember, it was the last days of January," Pantoja said on "The Ariel Helwani Show. " "In that time, two months ago, I said no, maybe I can fight in June.
But after that, after one month, beginning of March, I think I'm ready to fight. "If the guys asked me, maybe I'm ready to fight in Miami, but that's OK. I can enjoy watching the fight.
I think for that fight, it's the real chance for Joshua Van to prove he's the champion of the world. That's the real fight for the belt because with me, he didn't have a fight. " Many took umbrage with Van celebrating the anticlimactic ending to his title win.
While Pantoja gets it, he sees plenty of pressure on Van to prove he's a worthy champion. "I'm not judging because that's the dream for everybody," Pantoja said. "It was in his destiny to have this belt, and now everybody has the opportunity to see if Joshua Van is the real champion of the world or if he just (won) a ticket from Willy Wonka.