UFC 317 witnessed Joshua Van overtaking 11 spots and becoming the #1 flyweight contender. The Burmese-American flyweight contender defeated Brandon Royval via a unanimous decision and became the next best fighter to challenge Alexandre Pantoja for the championship title. But the best was yet to come. After about 5 days, ‘The Fearless’ got a reward that he never really expected to receive. 

The UFC head honcho, Dana White, rewarded Van’s performance with a $50K Fight of the Night bonus. On top of that, he got to face off against ‘The Cannibal’ inside the Octagon, after the Brazilian defeated Kai Kara-France with a third-round rear-naked choke, marking his 4th consecutive flyweight title defense. But the cherry on top came when ‘The Fearless’ got star-struck when he got to meet and talk to his idol, the Burmese actress, Moe Hay Ko. 

During a conversation with Nunnak Tinung after the events of UFC 317, Van was asked to close his eyes for 5 seconds for a surprise. And when he opened them up, the actress with $19M net worth sat on the opposite side of the screen. Van was left flabbergasted and exclaimed, “Hey, Moe Hay Ko! How are you?” The star-struck fighter and the actress burst into laughter, as Van claimed that he was happy to meet her. The feelings were mutual, as Ko congratulated Van on his last win. 

That’s when ‘The Fearless’ opened up, “I was watching movies when I was young. You know what I mean? When I was a kid.” But that was met with a few more giggles and some motivation by the Burmese actress. However, that wasn’t what mattered to the flyweight star. He asked if Ko watched his fight at the International Fight Week. And when the host confirmed that Ko did see his fight, Van claimed, “That’s all that matters.” 

Now, to fulfil his dream of becoming a champion, Joshua Van will have to defeat Pantoja in his next battle. But let’s see what the former flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson, has to say about this epic matchup. 

Demetrious Johnson breaks down the next possible fight for Joshua Van against Alexandre Pantoja

While recapping UFC 317 on his YouTube channel, ‘The Mighty Mouse’ commended the performance that Pantoja and Van showcased. But the face-off between he two wasn’t something productive for the reigning champion, according to Johnson.

He opined, “I think the biggest thing for Pantoja is that his stronger suit is getting you to the ground. When he’s on the feet, it’s a wrecking ball. He throws everything at you… Van’s gonna have to defend the takedown and when he defends the takedown, he’s going to have to… have Pantoja stand up… I don’t like the fact that they brought [Van] in there during [Pantoja’s] speech cause it just takes light away from what he did was so special. But at the end of the day, we’ll see what happens.”

Meanwhile, ‘Mighty Mouse’ tried to lift the Burmese fighter higher up with some motivational words. He addressed the difference in the champion’s and challenger’s age and said, “Van is 23-years-old, Pantoja is 35 [years-old]. Even if Van loses this title fight against Pantoja, you give Van 10 more years, he’s gonna be f—— 32… So, no matter what happens in this next fight for Van, I think it’s a moral victory for him to be training for five years of his whole entire career.”

Joshua Van managed to greatly impress the fighting community. UFC 317 was definitely one of his strongest and most entertaining performances. After all, it helped garner the attention of one of his favorite Burmese actresses. But Pantoja is a fighter on a different level. The question that remains is – can Van defeat Pantoja in a fight if the duo were booked to fight each other?