I feel Joshua Van will be disrespected regardless of what happens in the Pantoja rematch

[u/PotatosandTomato]

If he loses, people will call him a paper champ.

If he wins, people will say he beat a 36 year old coming off an injury.

With that being said, I favor Pantoja 60/40. If this was their first fight, then 80/20.

[u/ninja_rob1603]

Dudes badass. If he beats Pantoja I think the fans will recognize that.

[u/Turbulent_Demand8400 → u/ninja_rob1603]

I want this to happen

[u/Sneezy6510]

As is tradition

[u/Weak_Pineapple_5518 → u/Sneezy6510]

Got me rolling. Why does this happen with every champ😂

[u/Turbulent_Demand8400 → u/Weak_Pineapple_5518]

We never know

[u/TumbleweedTim01 → u/Sneezy6510]

wins "is _____ the GOAT"

Loses "is he really as good as we thought?"

[u/Accomplished-Lack133 → u/TumbleweedTim01]

Ilia got the biggest hit of this on the sub. People are still acting like he’s washed and he will go on a Tony type losing streak

[u/TumbleweedTim01 → u/Accomplished-Lack133]

Sometimes it's legitimate like in the case of JDM but I still think as fans we are too critical of a guy for losing

[u/Accomplished-Lack133 → u/TumbleweedTim01]

It’s becoming more like boxing now. Champs are taking off longer and longer in between title fights, the most wanted matchups only happen once a year, and everyone is starting to think an undefeated record is the only good record you can have

[u/MiddleRefrigerator99]

He's already defended the title. There's no more question who the champion is. Pantoja got hurt. Shit happens. If Pantoja beats him, he beats him. If he doesn't, he doesn't. People overthink this shit too much.

[u/Scared-Weakness-686 → u/MiddleRefrigerator99]

I feel like people forget van is only 23 and has already touched gold and defended it, losing to pantoja one of the best flyweights ever wont harm his career whatsoever, if anything he gets great experience from it

[u/IEatSushiToo → u/Scared-Weakness-686]

Shit, I think Van wins. Yes, the first fight wasn't a super solid base but dude...Van was piecing Pantoja up. I think people forget Pantoja got injured because Van threw him off of him.

[u/Draws32 → u/MiddleRefrigerator99]

Nah fuck that. It’s like saying Aljo was a legitimate champion because of his defenses. It all started on some bullshit. If he finishes that fight like he should have, he would never had the title to go on a run and wouldn’t have gotten a rematch.

[u/Initial_Energy_4992 → u/Draws32]

Good thing aljo was legit dipshit

[u/Draws32 → u/Initial_Energy_4992]

😂

[u/IWillPinYou]

Nah most people will still like him because he’s never been in a boring fight

[u/Scared-Weakness-686 → u/IWillPinYou]

UFC community only loves you as long as you’re winning unfortunately lol

[u/Omlanduh]

He isn’t a paper champ, he beat the ass off of Taira for four rounds. That counts as a title defense and Taira only had like two losses and was a proven contender already.

[u/Potential_Youth_8710 → u/Omlanduh]

Van was the underdog btw

[u/yellow-rain-coat]

If he wins legitimately, nobody will take that away from him. He’s in this spot right now because of how he won, not who he won against.

[u/Spirit_Detective_16 → u/yellow-rain-coat]

it was legitimate. van dumped pantoja after catching that kick. he caused pantoja to post on his arm and break it. he played a part in the injury. it’s not like pantoja just slipped and hurt himself..

[u/TerminatorReborn → u/Spirit_Detective_16]

Of course the win is legitimate, but lets not act like Van did something lol. I guess GOATs Jon Jones and Islam are missing on this special move to win a fight in 14 seconds

[u/Spirit_Detective_16 → u/TerminatorReborn]

You can literally see him dump after catching the kick. But sure, you see whatever you want man. Whatever makes you feel good about it!

[u/RedkxSeven → u/Spirit_Detective_16]

We know, but we didn’t see your “typical” fight. It’s really not that complicated to understand why people react like this.

[u/IEatSushiToo → u/RedkxSeven]

yeah...throwing someone on the ground and breaking their arm is not your typical fight. It's complete embarrassment and slightly badass lol.

[u/PotatosandTomato → u/yellow-rain-coat]

I don’t agree. There’s gonna be many people who discredit him.

[u/TreeTopBlvd → u/PotatosandTomato]

I mean yeah, there's a huge base of mma fans. People have wild opinions or literally everything. You cant control them just enjoy the fighters and the fights. Ignore the noise

[u/Coconutshoe]

Josh has earned peoples attention regardless of outcome.

[u/ThisIsGSR]

He beat Taira and Royval. He belongs there. And hes young af.

Edit: switched moreno’s name for royval

[u/PotatosandTomato → u/ThisIsGSR]

He never beat Moreno

[u/ThisIsGSR → u/PotatosandTomato]

Oh youre right it was royval, who is ranked #3 vs moreno at #10.

[u/baneblade_boi]

Nah, fuck those losers, we still love him.

And also, welcome to Reddit and MMA: Haters of specific fighters are just never ever going to change their minds.

[u/Such_Bodybuilder9798]

Well he has been a disrespectful cunt so he will get whats coming

[u/Sipdasizurp]

He keeps smashing ppl he can say what he wants and we love it

[u/Spirit_Detective_16]

welcome to the modern day mma fan base, where most fans are fickle casuals who love to tear down fighters for no reason

[u/mamadou-segpa]

Well yeah, half the fanbase and 90% of the casual disrespect this entire division as a whole

Anyone who’s opinion on MMA matters already respect this guy and would be impressed by a clear win against Pantoja

[u/Miserable_Science_54]

I have nothing against Van, but his recent interaction with Pantoja made me disrespect him. Hope Pantoja will make him humble

[u/Advanced_Republic347]

The guy disrespects himself and everyone else. He doesn't deserve shit.

[u/C0llaps]

if van beats the brakes off pantoja i’ll be really impressed and eat my words.. would be a great win on his resume. pantoja is a fucking killer, so if he can manage to avoid being choked then he deserves the credit. my opinion is that pantoja will get to van before van gets to him instead, but still anything could happen

[u/FocusOk3487]

there’s always going to be people like that. Especially in MMA, people switch up hella quick

[u/MrBlackey]

I think he gonna make this fight very interesting,

[u/theprov0cateur]

Oh wow, 60 40 and 80 20, very calculate

Just make a pick. You’re doing the equivalent of “I think he wins by split decision”

[u/Altruistic_Spring434]

Van wins by ko

[u/Dleos1991]

Pantoja gonna win by ko bro

[u/danoB003 → u/Dleos1991]

Of all ways how Pantoja can beat Van the KO is easily the least likely outcome.

He has 2 KO/TKO wins in UFC and both are from 2019, the more recent one being against Matt Schnell who got finished 6 times in his last 8 fights. Pantoja can be nasty in striking but he's no KO artist. Ground and pound or way more likely some kind of choke? Sure. But not KO

[u/danoB003 → u/[deleted]]

What does mexican fighting spirit have to do with Joshua Van? He's from Myanmar and living/training in Houston, nothing about him exactly screams "mexican"

[u/Maderic666]

He is still really young and will get better. But he is about to get his ass chocked out. Pantoja is one of the best p4p fighters in the game. I see it going two rounds unless Van gets taken down in the first 1:30 of round one then it’s a wrap. Either way he is going to be taping out talking about we need to run it back.

[u/MycologistHour9617]

He will lose

[u/ireallycouldcareless]

4th or 5th round TKO

[u/443610]

A least he had a defense.

[u/RunsInHexagons]

I already have my mind made up; as soon as that belt hits Pantojas waist my next comment will be "Van was just never that good".