When Alexandre Pantoja stepped into the cage fresh off an 8-fight win streak against an underdog Joshua Van, we already knew where the fight was headed. 26 seconds into the 1st round, the bout was stopped. But it wasn’t ‘The Cannibal’ who got his hand raised. Quite the contrary: after a poor head-kick attempt, Pantoja fell onto the mat, dislocating his elbow.

The unconventional victory has crowned the new flyweight champion, but more than that, it has sent a shockwave through the world of MMA. As the replay of the blitz round aired through the live streams, BMF champion Max Holloway took to X, as he wrote, “Man stop the replay! #UFC323.”

Adrian Yanez shared the sentiment, “Stop showing the damn replay 🤢🤮.” Further, he tweeted, “Unfortunate ending, but damn! Houston has its UFC CHAMP!!! Praying for a speedy recovery for Pantoja 🙏🏽.”

While the painful reminder ran on loop, Belal Muhammad shifted the focus to Joshua Van, who displayed true feats of sportsmanship after his victory: “I like van hes such a cool dude.”

Dominick Cruz showed a completely different mentality, as he tweeted, “I wish that Van vs Pantoja fight was aloud to keep going. It should be up to us as the fighter if we want to continue after that. We put the time in the training camp in that situation. People dislocate their arms and put it back in place and keep fighting all the time.”

Kevin Holland commented on Joshua Van’s strategy: “Van is the man! H town stand up Texas lFG.”

Farid Basharat brought his personal experiences to the equation, as he empathized with Pantoja: “Crazy sport. You have to feel for Pantoja. Exact same thing happened to me before my DWCS fight. So painful.” The bantamweight had suffered a ligament tear in his elbow while training for the Contender Series, earning his contract with the injury.

 Gilbert Burns Durinho kept it simple with his message: “💔@Pantojamma 😢😢.”

Even inside the octagon, the man with the new belt, Joshua Van, refused to celebrate his victory as Pantoja had to leave with medical attendants. While the round might not have ended how Pantoja envisioned, he ended the bout with the world of MMA at his back for support. Nonetheless, it’s a big moment for Van as he puts on the champion’s crown.

Joshua Van’s octagon message sends chills through the crowds

Joshua Van hardly landed any strikes before fate snatched away the round from Pantoja. And with that, 26 seconds crowned the underdog to the top ranks of the flyweight division. Van expressed his gratitude to God and his mother as he credited the victory to them. But representing Myanmar at the forefront of the fighting scene was at the top of his priorities, which he lifted the lid on at the interview.

“Now, the world would never forget Joshua Van and the people of Myanmar. Now, the world will know of us,” Van told Joe Rogan. But what truly sent shivers was the bone-chilling freak accident, which Van hadn’t noticed right away.

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“I didn’t know what happened. He just stopped and, you know, I was trying to ground and pound him but the ref was like something’s wrong, you know.” Regardless, Van refrained from landing any hits onto Pantoja writhing with agonizing pain in the ground. Not the way Van envisioned clinching the division belt, but he’s already set to defend his title against the division’s elites.

Rogan, who noted that Pantoja will be out of the octagon for quite some time now, hinted a title defence against Tatsuro Taira, which Van reciprocated with vigor. “My name is the fearless, and I’ll fight whoever y’all put in front of me,” Van’s spine-chilling message echoed across the octagon. The UFC 323 main card was full of surprises, and Pantoja’s freak accident was one of the more upsetting ones. But now the flyweight has its new king. What are your thoughts on Van vs Taira title fight?