Alexandre Pantoja

Pantoja's title defense ended almost immediately when Van caught a kick and the champion suffered an arm injury on the fall. The referee stopped the bout 26 seconds into round one, handing Van the flyweight championship.

Key moments

• Van caught Pantoja's opening kick and brought the exchange to the canvas.
• Pantoja injured his arm while bracing his fall from the takedown.
• The referee stopped the fight at 0:26 of round one once the injury was clear.
• The abrupt stoppage transferred the flyweight title to Van.

Pantoja retained the flyweight title by taking the fight to Kai Asakura early, mixing pressure with clean striking before returning to the grappling in the second round. After taking Asakura's back, Pantoja secured the rear-naked choke at 2:05 of round two.

Key moments

• Pantoja came forward aggressively and stung Asakura during the opening exchanges.
• The champion was comfortable exchanging through much of the first two rounds while keeping Asakura under pressure.
• Pantoja changed levels, took Asakura's back, and brought the fight to the canvas in the second round.
• Pantoja attacked the rear-naked choke and forced the finish at 2:05 of round two to retain the title.

Pantoja retained the flyweight title in a hard-fought five-round battle with Steve Erceg. The champion opened aggressively, but Erceg answered with crisp boxing and close-range elbows before Pantoja used the challenger’s late takedown attempts to control the final exchanges.

Key moments

• Opened the title fight with an aggressive rush designed to test Erceg immediately.
• Erceg weathered the opening pressure, landed clean boxing, and cut Pantoja with elbows in close range.
• Erceg's fourth-round offense forced Pantoja to answer with cleaner control in the closing exchanges.
• Pantoja turned Erceg's late takedown attempts into controlling grappling exchanges and won the decision 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46.

Alexandre Pantoja outlasted Brandon Moreno over five rounds at UFC 290, winning a split decision to claim the UFC flyweight title.

Key moments

• Pantoja and Moreno completed all five rounds of their flyweight championship bout.
• The three totals were 48-47, 48-47, and 46-49 in Pantoja's favor.
• Pantoja took rounds one, three, and five while Moreno took rounds two and four.
• The victory made Pantoja the UFC flyweight champion.

Alexandre Pantoja tore through Alex Perez in 91 seconds at UFC 277, finishing with a rear-naked choke.

Key moments

• Pantoja forced a rapid grappling exchange and finished Perez before the bout reached the midpoint of round one.
• Pantoja secured the rear-naked choke at 1:31 of the opening round.
• The submission win put Pantoja in position to challenge for the flyweight title.
• The finish came on the UFC 277 main card in Dallas, Texas.