Joshua Van: A Win Over Brandon Royval At UFC 317 Puts Me At No. 1
Joshua Van has accomplished a lot during his relatively short MMA career. At UFC 317, the 23-year-old tackles his biggest assignment yet when he faces No. 1 ranked UFC flyweight contender Brandon Royval on short notice at UFC 317.
The news that Royval had lost his original opponent for UFC 317, which takes place on June 28 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, broke earlier this week when Kape revealed he suffered a broken foot during training. Royval was the one who informed fight fans that Van was stepping in on short notice as a replacement.
Van was fresh off a TKO win over veteran UFC competitor Bruno Silva when he accepted the Royval fight. The Silva stoppage at UFC 316 gave Van a four-fight winning streak and moved him to the No. 10 spot in the official UFC 125-pound rankings.
After his win at UFC 316, Van called for a fight against former UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno, who is ranked No. 2 in the division.
'If I win this fight, I'm No. 1," Van told Ariel Helwani. "No [UFC hasn't said that], but who am I supposed to fight next? If I beat the No. 1 guy, I'm the No. 1 [guy]. So that's what I'm thinking right now.
'The only reason I called out [Brandon] Moreno [after UFC 316] was because everyone in the top 15 had a matchup and stuff like that. It was just me and him that were left, and he said he wanted to fight on Noche UFC, I want to fight in Texas. But if they give me a title [fight after UFC 317], hell yeah, I'll take the title.'
"When they called me Sunday, it's just an opportunity that I can't say no. I told the media I want to fight as soon as possible, so the UFC gave me a matchup, and I have to say yes,' Van added.
The timing of the Royval vs. Van fight is excellent. The co-main event of UFC 317 finds the flyweight title on the line, as champion Alexandre Pantoja faces Kai Kara-France in that matchup. The winner of the Royval vs. Van fight, which is currently booked for the UFC 317 prelims, could determine who faces the winner of that Pantoja vs. Kara-France matchup.
Van spoke about that fight.
"Kai is a very powerful guy. So I feel like if Kai doesn't show him too much respect, I think he can get it done," Van said. "But if Pantoja bullies him in there, it's done. It's over.
'It would be ideal if I fight Pantoja because nobody's ever beaten him as the champion. So if I go out there and beat him, that would be [great]. May the best man win.'
Royval faced Pantoja in a title fight in December 2023. Pantoja won that contest by decision. The two also faced each other in a non-title bout in August 2021. Pantoja earned a submission win in that scrap.
Royval has a September 2020 submission win over Kara-France.
We will have more on Royval vs. Van and the UFC 317 fight card as fight night approaches.
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