UFC 328: Joshua Van embracing the chance to prove he’s the lord of the flies

Joshua Van won the UFC flyweight title at 24 years and 57 days old, which was only 180 days short of Jon Jones’ record as the youngest to ever hold a UFC title at 23 years, 242 days old. Not bad, all things considered. Of course, Van didn’t receive quite the same fanfare as Jones, who stopped a fleeing robber in New Jersey just hours before he beat Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to win the light heavyweight title at UFC 128 in 2011.

Jones ended up on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno, while Van, after his victory over Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 323, disappeared into the confines of his gym in Houston. Yet it’s to the same city Jones broke the record in that the Myanmar-born Van heads for his first title defense as the UFC’s second-youngest champion ever, a fact that peeves him just a little when he thinks about it. When the champ fought Charles Johnson in Denver back in 2024, he was just 22 years (and 194 days) old, and right on track to make some history.

He got knocked out in the third round in what was his first UFC loss. Perhaps it’s a sign that he’s wise beyond his years that Van says he wouldn’t trade his experience to have broken Jones’ record. “It kind of [bothers me], but I took that loss,” he says.

“That's the fight that kind of made me back-step a little bit. But I needed that loss. So, I feel like everything happened for a reason, and I don't mind being the second-youngest champion right behind Jon Jones.