The two men who left Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, with championship belts on Saturday earned them in different but equally hard-fought ways. Joshua Van let anyone who questioned his championship mettle heading into UFC 328 know that he is the real men’s flyweight champion. His opponent in his first title defense, Tatsuro Taira, gave Van all the pressure he could handle, but Van stayed composed and stopped Taira in the fifth round.
In the main event, Sean Strickland showed the world that the previously undefeated Khamzat Chimaev could be beaten. Strickland had answers for all of Chimaev’s tests on the way to a split decision victory. Now, Chimaev could respond in one of two ways: He could be motivated to come back better or move on to something else.
Brett Okamoto and Andreas Hale explore those topics now that UFC 328 is in the books.
Will Chimaev’s first career loss energize or bore him further?
Is it just me, or is Chimaev a little hard to read at this point in his career? This is a fighter who used to dream about three belts. Now, he says he never cared about the one he held. He has mentioned in fairly direct terms that he does not feel the need to fight anymore, but he continues for the money and his team.
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UFC CEO Dana White revealed at the UFC 328 postfight news conference that Chimaev told him he wants to move to light heavyweight. That’s fine and it’s exciting, but it’s also potentially worrisome that Chimaev, who has also fought at welterweight, now wants to move up after he just lost to a middleweight on Saturday. Is light heavyweight really a better weight for him, when he’s not finishing opponents on the feet like he used to or (in the case of Strickland) holding them down as effectively?
Let me be clear on something: Chimaev showed a lot of heart against Strickland. He dug deep to continue moving forward when the situation called for it, and there are plenty of observers who believed that effort should have won him the fight. In no way am I suggesting Chimaev is on his way out. But he struggled with the weight cut this week, and his endurance cratered early in the fight, despite a dominant first round. Take all that — coupled with his insistence that he doesn’t need to do this anymore — and there is at the least a cause for curiosity.
Chimaev has accomplished what he set out to accomplish. He says he doesn’t need anything else. But he wants to keep making money. Sometimes money can be a great motivator for a prizefighter, but we’ve also seen examples of those kinds of comments precluding a drop in performance. Chimaev just suffered the first loss of his career. That is no reason to panic, but in his next performance, every detail will be worth paying very close attention to. — Okamoto
Van is the real and only men’s flyweight champion
Joshua Van, right, successfully defended his flyweight belt in a hard-fought, complete victory over Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328. Chris Unger/Zuffa LLCIt was unfortunate how Van won the flyweight title in December. Through no fault of his own, Alexandre Pantoja’s arm injury in the opening minute of the fight had some questioning whether Van was the real flyweight champion.
Well, those questions were answered with Van’s first title defense against Taira. The champion showed resilience, resolve and exceptional striking to eventually pound out an impressive fifth-round stoppage. Since arriving in the UFC, Taira had been touted as a grappling dynamo with excellent submissions. And the fight played out in Taira’s favor in the opening round, when he dragged the champion to the canvas less than a minute into the fight. Van showed a steel resolve that refused to allow him to stay on the ground, and he eventually wore down Taira by repeatedly getting to his feet and blasting the challenger with combinations.
For someone who has only trained in MMA for five years, Van has proved to be a prodigy. While his striking was never in question, Van has quickly picked up takedown defense and the ability to get to his feet when brought to the canvas. His technique is sound, and it’s often overlooked that he’s only 24 and learning on the job.
That’s what makes Van special and extremely dangerous. His ability is far from peaking, but he is already good enough to be a world champion. His progression since being knocked out by Charles Johnson in July 2024 to now has been astonishing and is reminiscent of a snake shedding its skin to reveal a new version in each fight. There are new wrinkles to his game demonstrated every time he steps into the Octagon, which makes preparing for him quite the challenge.
Pantoja will likely be next to try to reclaim his title. But he shouldn’t anticipate the Van he prepared for previously. And he probably shouldn’t use what he saw against Taira as a barometer for what to expect in the rematch. Van has made the flyweight division even more fun to watch than before with his performances, and it’s really hard to believe there was a time when the company considered shuttering the division.
Simply put, Van is the real deal, and there’s no question who the real champion of the division is. — Hale
