Joshua Van wins thrilling Alexandre Pantoja rematch after brutal Arman Tsarukyan KO at UFC 331
Joshua Van retained his flyweight title with a thrilling points win over Alexandre Pantoja on Saturday, capping off UFC 331 in Los Angeles.
Van dethroned Pantoja in strange circumstances in December, when the latter suffered an early harm, however the Myanmar native sealed a clearer win of their rematch.
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After a sometimes scintillating begin by Pantoja, who took down Van within the opening 10 seconds, the 24-year-old champion started to search out the house to execute his fantastic boxing expertise.
Joshua Van celebrates a second profitable flyweight-title defence (Getty)
As such, the struggle gave the impression to be tied up at 1-1 after the primary two rounds, the second of which noticed a short pause whereas a bloodied Pantoja complained of a headbutt. A replay appeared to indicate an unintentional conflict of heads, nonetheless.
What ensued was a razor-close third spherical, during which Pantoja, 36, stacked up extra management time and landed loads of strikes in frantic exchanges, whereas Van continued to field sharply.
Brazil’s Pantoja was dominant together with his grappling in spherical 4, leaving the struggle seemingly up within the air going into the fifth spherical, however Van got here up clutch.
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The champion outstruck Pantoja and even dropped him with a clear proper cross late on, earlier than the scorecards all went his approach.
They have been surprisingly one-sided (49-46, 49-47, 50-45), as Van recorded a second profitable title defence, having stopped Tatsuro Taira instantly basic in May.
In the co-main occasion, Arman Tsarukyan beat Mauricio Ruffy in what was billed as a lightweight-title eliminator.
Arman Tsarukyan after a vital stoppage of Mauricio Ruffy (Reuters)
The Armenian survived some testing moments – and noticeable harm to his left eye – to cease Ruffy on the finish of spherical one, crumpling him with an elbow in opposition to the fence. Tsarukyan, 29, even landed a second elbow as his Brazilian opponent collapsed.
Next for Tsarukyan could also be champion Justin Gaethje, who watched from cageside on Saturday.
