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December 6, 2025 • 11 mins

Daniel Cormier IS BACK with his check-in interviews at UFC 323 in Las Vegas, and this time JOSHUA VAN makes his DC check-in debut ahead of a HUGE TITLE FIGHT vs. the champion Alexandre Pantoja. See why Van argues that Pantoja is already the flyweight GOAT over Demetrious Johnson. Plus, Van talks about his win over Royval, and why he believes this title shot is LONG OVERDUE. Van tells Cormier that he wants to become one of the youngest UFC champions ever, and guarantees Saturday he'll achieve his dream. #Volume

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
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(01:32):
has a gambling problem and wants help, call one eight
hundred and nine with it. And if you have a
gambling problem, call one eight hundred gambler. I'm here with
Joshua Van challenges for the UFC Flyweight Championship this weekend
against Aleschandre Pantosia. Josh Van, thank you for checking in

(01:56):
with the boy man. I appreciate you. You get a
little bit of that championship media. You like it?

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, it's a lot, but yeah, I like it.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
It's a lot, especially when you're hungry. Yes, I got
some food over here. You're like, yo, is that wingstop? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (02:10):
I was gonna go grab that.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
No, you better stay away from that. Whatever you get
on Saturday night is gonna be much better if you
become a world champion. When I become a champion, When
you become a world champion, did this this timeframe for
this title fight? Like, could you ever imagine it will
be here as soon because I got to tell you.
I remember the first fighter meeting we did and I

(02:32):
spoke to you about wrestling. You said, I've been wrestled
for six months, man, and I don't feel like that
was that long ago. It feels like this has happened
very quickly.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, I don't know, man. You know, I think this
is like the perfect timing, you know what I mean,
for me to get this opportunity. Like I was, I
wanted to get it sooner, but I think this is
the perfect time.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
You thought sooner, you deserve to be viighter belt.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yes, I was to my managerment I want to be
the youngest champion. But you know, I took that loss
back in twenty twenty three or four, you know, and
that kind of slowed me down, and that was the
best thing that ever happened to me. So now I'm
mentally preparing physically, you know what I mean. So I'm ready.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
I was wondering about that when a young guy takes
a loss for the first time in the UFC like that,
what did you learn from it? What did you learn
from that that allowed for you to be who you
are right now?

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Well, like I don't want to get to spiritually and
things like that, you know, I mean, I just found
myself basically, you know what I mean. So and the
work ethic that I put in Now I'm more disciplined
and things like that. So mentally and physically, I'm well prepare.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
When you're young, though, there's a lot that comes with
being a UFC fighter because now you have access to things. Bro,
how do you know twenty four twenty four years old?
If I was in this position at twenty four years old,
maybe twenty three and twenty two like you were, I
don't know that I'd be okay. As most struggle right

(04:05):
John Jones, for one, Look at how crazy he was
as a young guy that had all the success. How
did you avoid that not falling victim to all those
traps that comes with fame, stardom and being on the
world stage at such a young age.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Exactly right there. Yeah, got kip me on my you
know what I mean. He always check on me and
things like that. Not just him, but all the coaches.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Man.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
If I slack off, man, they get on my ass.
So that's what keeped me humble and kip me in
the gym.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, that's the most important thing staying active. And you're
young now too, like you don't feel the practices as
much as people feel and when they get older. But
trust me, you do this long enough. Watch when you
wake up after a practice at thirty opposed to twenty one.
You're like a superman right now.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
I keep telling them, man, I'm getting old.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
No you're not. Trust me. When I was your age,
you could follow him the wrestling matter one hundred times
a day. Enough nothing. Now I'm like showing technique. The
other day my knee gave out on me as I
was just standing up. I was just standing up. Man.
It's bad. But now you're here, right you have an
opportunity fight for the world championship. But that came after
an absolute barn burner with Brandon roy Valve. Yes, your

(05:18):
boxing obviously is what you're known for. Your take down
defense has actually gotten so good that nobody can take
it out in their force to box with you. But
in that fight with roy val it was crazy, bro. Yes,
you dropped him in the third to pretty much solidify
the victory. Did you guys know going into a third round,
a man, it might be one one. I gotta find
a way to separate myself from this guy.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yes, uh well, I actually thought I went all three rounds.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Right really Like it was the jab, like he was
hitting you with a lot of jabs, like in the
second effort that that might have swung it in his Uh.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, yeah, that's probably what it is.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
But then I was lending the damage person, you know,
I was doing more damage and things like that. But
I think, like the fans will see one on one
going into that fight, and then the coaches was telling
me it was one on one, so you know what
I mean. That third round, I know I got to
step up and things like that.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
You dropped it. Yes, you probably were thinking to yourself, God, yes, yes,
there's no doubt.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yes, I thought I finished it. I thought I was
gonna finish him. But then that the town was Tom
went too fast.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
That's gonna be fight of the year. Yes, that's the
fight of the year.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
I loved that.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yes, yeah, I think that is the fight of the year,
hands down. The skill level the thing, but most importantly
to me, it showed me that you can now deal
with adversity. I knew after that fight you were kind
of ready to challenge for a championship. Do you feel
like you grew up in that fight.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
Uh No, I feel like I grew in the tires
fight in the sphere. You know how I was about
to knock him out and then he grabbed the cage
and spinning.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Out yep, yep, yep.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
And you know what I mean, I got you know,
I got back up and finished the fight, you know
what I mean. So I think that that kind of
showed me who I am as a fighter.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
I think were people are excited about who you are
and know who you are. Aleschandre Pantosia, Right, this guy
is putting together a resume that rivals some of the
greatest champions in the UFC history. When you got the
call that you're gonna get to fight him for the championship,
how excited were you? And when you guys went to

(07:19):
work to start breaking him down, what stuck out the
most of you? His ground?

Speaker 3 (07:25):
For sure, he is one of the in my eyes,
he's the greatest of all time in our division. Right,
just because you know that's he's all I say.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
The Metrice Johnson bro the Metrice Johnson would like to
say something like that. It's just it's almost like saying
Lebron is better than Michael Jordan because you're young and
you didn't see Michael Jordan play.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, you see, But that's that's how I see. You know,
when I made my debut, he was a champion.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
I'm gonna give you. I'm giving you some runway to
take that back, man, Demetrius.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Johnson, Maybe I'm gonna have to go.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
He gotta watch him, dude, just watch the mouse trap.
He threw one guy in the air and as he
was going to the ground, he put him in an
arm bar.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
That's dope.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
That's dope. Bro's the sickest submission you guys. Remember now
he lifted him in the air. Yeah, okay, but Panosia
is right there, right, and when you start breaking him
down and you see that ground game, how do you
make sure that that wrestling that we spoke about on
day one holds up to be able to defend yourself
against him trying to take you to the ground.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
Yeah, but all of the guys that he fought after
he got that belt, right, is the guys he'd already beaten.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
So mentally he already beaten.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
And you know what I mean, And they're giving him
too much respect when they fight him like, you know,
going backward, Like look at Kai fight like most of
the takedown that Pentosia was landing on him. It wasn't
because he was a great like he was great at
shooting takedowns and things like that. It was because Kai
was backing up, backing up, and he tripped on himself

(08:52):
type of thing too, you know what I mean. So
I'm not gonna make the same mistake. You don't go
backwards though, Yeah, that's the thing, you don't back up.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, But he has been he has been willing to
stand in trade when he had to right with Brandon Moreno,
it seemed like he was the aggressor in the striking.
Do you expect him to be willing to stand with
you like that or you think he's gonna take takedown
right away?

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Well, my striking is very different from Moreno.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
You know everybody know.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah, Moreno is just like he's he's just a fast
punch of guys, you know what I mean. But me,
I got my tommy, you know what I mean. I
don't just throw just to throw, you know what I mean.
I set up things and things like that. So that's
what's gonna make uh different in this thing.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Have you thought about twenty five minutes? Have you thought
about like fighting a twenty five minute fight, because that's
a whole different ballgame.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
Yeah, I mean I spar seven rounds things like that,
you know, five minutes. So there's nothing new to me.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Man, you become a world champion, Like what do you
what does that mean to you? If that's sas Saturday night?
You hear and new.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
And everything to me, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Like I always say, I never thought, I never think
I'm successful until I get that that belt, you know
what I mean? And just getting the belt representing my
country me more. And you know what I mean, giving
that belt to my mom will mean the word to me.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
How do you keep that perspective? Because I saw a
video recently where Wilse's junior was saying he got ten
grand he spent it in a week because he was
a young kid that got lost, Like, how do you
keep that perspective? You spent it?

Speaker 1 (10:30):
I did the same share with my first two UFC check.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
I got rid of it.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Would you buy I don't even know? It lasted me
a week or something like. And then this guy is like,
what's your money? And I look at my bank. It
was it's gone, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
So what now what are you doing differently?

Speaker 1 (10:50):
Now? I call him. I was like, hey, what am
I doing with you know this? What can I buy?
What can I you know?

Speaker 2 (10:57):
And so they keep me on track. Man, My coaches
perspective is important. But I tell you one thing, if
you win that belt on Saturday, you ain't gonna really
have to look at that bank account as closely. No more.
They have a lot of zeros in there too. It
is nice, hopefully sleep, but you sleep better. Steak tastes better.
What's your favorite meal?

Speaker 1 (11:14):
Steak?

Speaker 2 (11:15):
For sure, Steak is your favorite meal. Yes, you become
the champion and you get those checks. Steak tastes like
they literally the cow. They stab him, take him off,
put him right on the grill, right on your plate.
That's what steak starts to taste like.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
I haven't breakfast dinner, and it's the best.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Feeling in the world. Congratulations my man. Guys. Joshua Van
challenges for the Flyway Championship this weekend. You have C
three twenty three against Alexandre Pantosia, a young man who's
done so much, so quickly get excited about josh Van
he has an opportunity to make history on Saturday Night.
Until next time, Peace,
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