Having endured the mental and physical grind of making four title defenses over a two-year span as champion heading into his first meeting with Joshua Van last December at UFC 323, Alexandre Pantoja had envisioned a month's long vacation as a reward to himself for all of his hard work and sacrifices. But Pantoja's fifth defense of his 125-pound title didn't exactly go as planned. The Brazilian legend suffered a freak dislocated elbow just 26 seconds into the fight after Van caught a high kick attempt and pushed him to the ground to cause the injury and a changing of the guard atop the division thanks to the TKO win.
Instead of a vacation, the 36-year-old Pantoja quickly found himself back in the gym just two days later with one arm in a sling and a new mindset that has led him into Saturday's rematch, when the pair of flyweights headline UFC 331 in Los Angeles (9 p.m. "I [went back] to the gym because I knew if I take too much time off, it's going to be very tough to get back to my shape and this level," Pantoja told CBS Sports during an August sitdown in Philadelphia before the UFC 331 introductory press conference. "Since my injury, I haven't stopped.
I was back to training with one arm in the gym and doing physical therapy. I think my right hand is very powerful now." red event and UFC Fight Night is included with your subscription! Plans start as low as $8.99/month or $89.99/year!
A native of Rio de Janeiro who elevated his career to the next level when he moved himself and his family to Florida in 2018 to train full-time at American Top Team, Pantoja (30-6) has taken umbrage with how quickly everyone has seemed to move on from everything he accomplished as flyweight champion. Despite not losing his title in the traditional way following the 26-second defeat due to injury, Pantoja was dropped from the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings despite previously reaching No. 4 thanks to an 8-fight win streak late in his career that elevated Pantoja from dangerous everyman to one of the most decorated champions in the promotional history. Part of that was due to the seemingly overnight success of Van (17-2), a 24-year-old native of Mynamar who fights out of Houston and has been quickly labeled as one of the breakout stars of the sport.
Van rebounded from a 2024 knockout loss to Charles Johnson by winning seven consecutive fights over the next two years, including a Fight of the Year against Brandon Royval in 2025 and an all-action title defense against Tatsuro Taira in May that ended in a thrilling fifth-round TKO. "[Van] didn't beat me, he didn't beat me. I lost for myself [due to the injury,]" Pantoja said.
"I have 20 years of professional fighting, I never made a drill to push someone to break their arm like that. I know, like an athlete, I lost the fight and I know I lost my belt. I'm not the champion anymore.
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