Joshua Van should defend title before Alexandre Pantoja rematch, says Daniel Cormier

UFC commentator Daniel Cormier believes Joshua Van should defend his title against Tatsuro Taira prior to Alexandre Pantoja returning.

Last Saturday night at UFC 323, Joshua Van became the new UFC flyweight champion. However, it happened under unfortunate circumstances, as Alexandre Pantoja suffered an arm injury that rendered him unable to continue less than a minute into the first round.

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Van proceeded to celebrate his win pretty emphatically, which rubbed some people the wrong way, whereas others defended him. Either way, the youngster is now in an incredible position, with many wondering when he’s going to defend the belt next given that Pantoja is likely to be out for an extended period of time.

In a recent episode of his podcast, Daniel Cormier weighed in on what should be next for Van.

Cormier’s view on Van’s future after UFC 323

“Pantoja had been beating everybody, but now he’s going to be out for a bit,” Cormier said on his “Good Guy/Bad Guy” show with Chael Sonnen. “That was a real injury. It will take some time. I believe that Tatsuro Taira, after beating Brandon Moreno and finishing Brandon Moreno, should be fighting for the belt. I looked over at Mick Maynard last night (at UFC 323) and I said to him, ‘Book them tomorrow.’

“He goes, ‘What do you mean?’ I go, ‘Tatsuro Taira got hit 10 times against Brandon Moreno, nothing happened.’ They were boxing for about 45 seconds, he goes for a takedown, he ends up in that weird triangle position with Moreno, and they stay there the whole round. … There’s no damage on either side.

“There are fight cards at the beginning of the year where you could say, hey, I know Alexander Volkanovski has a fight on Feb. 1, generally we like to do two title fights on these pay-per-views. Why not make this the second fight (at UFC 325)? Tatsuro Taira and Joshua Van. Van won’t say no, then you turn them around. That’s two months since Pantoja got hurt.

“Say the winner of that fight needs six months before the next fight, now you’re eight months post Pantoja’s injury. Now you’ve either got him going into the rematch with Joshua Van, or he’s fighting a brand new champion. The whole weight class seems refreshed because it kept moving.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie