Alexandre Pantoja is the former UFC flyweight champion and, for most of the last five years, was the best fighter in his division. He is 30-6, defended the title four times, and lost it in 26 seconds in a fight nobody got to see properly. He fights Joshua Van at UFC 331 to get it back.
| Profile | Detail |
|---|---|
| Age | 36 |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Record | 30-6 |
| Division | Flyweight, 125 pounds |
| Won the title | UFC 290, beating Brandon Moreno |
| Title defenses | Four: Brandon Royval, Steve Erceg, Kai Asakura and Kai Kara-France |
| Lost the title | UFC 323, December 6, 2025, to Joshua Van by TKO at 26 seconds |
| Before that loss | Unbeaten for more than five years |
The Reign That Got Him Into the Best-Ever Conversation
Pantoja took the belt from Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 and then did the thing that separates champions from titleholders: he kept beating the division’s best. Royval, Erceg, Asakura and Kara-France all got their shot and all lost. By late 2025 he was appearing in serious arguments about the greatest flyweight in the sport’s history, a conversation that had belonged to Demetrious Johnson alone.
Then it ended in 26 seconds. Pantoja threw a head kick at UFC 323, Van caught it, and Pantoja came up from the fall unable to continue. Dana White said shoulder at the press conference; Pantoja’s team said elbow the next day. He had not lost a fight in more than five years and lost his title without either man landing anything meaningful.
Why the Rematch Is Different
Van is 24 and Pantoja is 36, which is the whole subtext. Flyweight is a division where speed and volume decide fights, and Van set a UFC record for combined significant strikes in his win over Royval. Pantoja has to show that a twelve year age gap does not matter over twenty five minutes.
What he has that Van does not is a body of work at this level. Van has one title defense, a hard one against Tatsuro Taira. Pantoja has four, against a murderer’s row, and has never been finished in a fight where he was healthy. Details of the first meeting are on our Van vs. Pantoja page, and the card is on our UFC 331 fight card.
The Bottom Line
Pantoja is a 36 year old Brazilian, 30-6, who won the flyweight title at UFC 290 and defended it four times before losing it in 26 seconds to an injury. He fights Joshua Van at UFC 331 to reclaim it.