UFC 317 welcomed a new era of flyweights when Joshua Van faced off with Alexandre Pantoja. On 28 June, Van took on Brandon Royval and defeated him via a unanimous decision. The judges scored the bout 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27 for the winner. It was nothing short of a captivating action sequence that got Van a $50K Fight of the Night bonus and seemingly the next shot at the title. However, there was one fight that shadowed ‘The Fearless’s impressive performance at IFW.
During his conversation with Denis Schkuratov from Submission Radio, Demetrious Johnson weighed in on the battle between Royval and Van. What impressed ‘Mighty Mouse’ was that the #1 flyweight contender from Myanmar was only 23 years old. However, there were some lacunae in the flyweight bout.
The former ONE champion said, “I think I was kind of outspoken about this. For me, I like to see the complete meal deal of mixed martial arts. And when those guys are fighting, it was a great fight. They’re both beating each other up. Brandon Royval outlanded him by like 9 strikes. They both just beat the s— out of each other. I guess you could say very young contender, very great hands, great sprawling, brawling. I mean, the sky’s the limit to him. He’s 23 years old… He has a bright future.”
But as the conversation continued, Johnson claimed that the main event at UFC 317 was far better than the battle between Van and Royval. According to him, Ilia Topuria becoming the lightweight champion after knocking Charles Oliveira out was worthy of a FOTN bonus. He said, “I think ilia Topuria is a special unicorn, a special athlete. He’s very good about getting to where he needs to be in the fight. And then executing and beautiful jab, beautiful footwork, beautiful exchange. That was like my Fight of the Night.”
It was the Georgian two-division champion’s progression in the fight that impressed Johnson. According to him, the main event was the complete show. ‘Mighty Mouse’ continued, “I’m a f—— MMA nerd, right? I love the full embodiment of like, ‘Boom, I’m taking you down.’ And I just love that about fighting. And that was an amazing display of mixed martial arts at its finest between 2 of the best athletes in the world.”
UFC 316 in New Jersey Joshua Van of Myanmar fights Bruno Silva of Brazil in the flyweight bout during UFC 316 at the Prudential Center on June 07, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. NEW YORK NEW YORK UNITED OF AMERICA Copyright: xVANESSAxCARVALHOx
Well, Johnson would be happy to know that the main event of the International Fight Week 2025 received the Performance of the Night bonus. But let’s get back to Joshua Van. The 23-year-old impressed Dana White with his performance and received the $50K bonus. Lucky for him, there was another aspect of his personality that further enhanced the UFC CEO’s affinity towards him.
Joshua Van impressed Dana White with more than just the UFC 317 win
The UFC head honcho loves those who give him good fights. And after Van defeated Bruno Silva at UFC 316, he declared that he wanted to stay active and fight again as soon as possible. These words impressed Dana White and got him a fight against Royval at UFC 317. It was also how he jumped 11 spots to secure the #1 contender’s position.
White, during the post-fight press conference for UFC 317, said, “Anybody who talks like that and says I wanna fight as many times this year, it’s the greatest thing you can do for yourself.” He even decided to highlight Van’s stance using Khamzat Chimaev as an example. During the early days of his career, ‘Borz’ didn’t want to stay without a fight. And White wanted that exact mentality in his fighters. He continued, “So, when that is your mentality and if you can win, I mean, look at Khamzat [Chimaev] when we were in Fight Island. He’s like, ‘I wanna fight again next weekend…’ I love it.”
For his win at UFC 316, ‘The Fearless’ pocketed $156K—and that helped make one of his dreams come true: he bought a house for his mother. With his victory at UFC 317, Van secured the No. 1 contender’s spot and received a challenge from the flyweight champion himself. What do you think will happen when Van and Pantoja finally clash?
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