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Alexandre Pantoja gives update on return: ‘I have unfinished business with Joshua Van’

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Alexandre Pantoja gives update on return: ‘I have unfinished business with Joshua Van’

Alexandre Pantoja is all healed up and ready to settle the score with Joshua Van.

In December, Pantoja defended his flyweight title against Van in the co-main event of UFC 323, but was beset by disaster when he injured his arm trying to roll away after Van caught a kick just seconds into the bout. Since then, Pantoja has been out of action while he recovers, while Van successfully defended his new title in May with a fifth-round stoppage over Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328.

But now, Pantoja is fit and ready to get back to it.

“I'm ready,†Pantoja told MMA Fighting. “After December, what happened to my arm, two days after that, I went to the gym, started training with just one arm. That's who I am. I'm not done. I'm not done. I have so much to conquer. I have so much to prove. And when you have the belt, your words [mean more]. I want to take the belt again. I want to be UFC champion one more time and keep talking to good things, about the world and things I saw in my life, make people happy. That's what I want.â€

As mentioned, while Pantoja's been out, Van has already added a title defense to his résumé, and other flyweight contenders have been busy as well, with Manel Kape knocking out Kyoji Horiguchi, and Brandon Royval psetting Lone'er Kavanagh. For Pantoja, the continued growth of the division in his absence has been great for him, too.

“Real good fight. Real good fight,†Pantoja said of Van's win over Taira. “Showed a lot of high-level skills. Don't get me wrong, on the same night, you have the Chimaev and Strickland fight, you see the difference about the pace, about the high-level. That's good to prove to everybody the flyweight division is one of the more entertaining divisions in the UFC.

“You see Manel Kape with Kyoji Horiguchi. You see Brandon Royval, all these guys put on very good show to everybody, and I think right now, flyweight is better than ever. I think what happened with me last year made the division more fire. Now I have the opportunity to take over and [beat] everybody again.â€

Pantoja was particularly impressed by Kape's win over Horiguchi at UFC Vegas 119 last month. After the win, Kape lobbied for his shot at the flyweight title, but Pantoja says he's up first. Then he and Kape can run things back.

“Beautiful performance,†Pantoja said. “I think Kyoji Horiguchi gets very close to winning the fight, but Manel is the real deal. Manel Kape, for me, is one of the most dangerous fights in the world in flyweight. He's the next contender.

“Of course, I have unfinished business with Joshua Van. Like, as an athlete, I know I lost the fight. That happened. But like a man, I don't think he beat me. I'm still here. I'm ready to fight. I'm in amazing shape. Let's see what happens next.â€

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MMA

Dana White moves UFC production crew to ‘second worst’ after FIFA world cup final

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17 minutes ago

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July 20, 2026

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Dana White moves UFC production crew to ‘second worst’ after FIFA world cup final
Dana White no longer considers his production crew the worst in
sports.

White recently slammed the
Ultimate Fighting Championship's production crew for confusing
Shakur Stevenson with NBA player Jalen Williams at
UFC 329. He labeled them the worst across sports in terms of
showing celebrities at events. However, members of the UFC
production team have now told White that soccer production crews
are even worse when it comes to celebrities.

UFC president Dana White reacts to FIFA World Cup final
celebrity identification mistakes

White believes the words of his production team after Saturday's
FIFA World Cup final, where Spain beat Argentina 1-0. He now
considers the FIFA production crew the worst in sports when it
comes to showing celebrities.

“The guys responsible for the production of the World Cup, for you
guys to hit a Grand Slam home run,†White said on his Instagram
Stories. “Even though everybody on my team was arguably saying that
you are the worst, I said, ‘No, we're the worst. They didn't f*ck
it up as bad as we did.' What do you guys do? You triple down today
and you just go, ‘F*ck you, Dana White. You're not beating us.
We're the worst production team in the history of sports to ever
show celebrities.' I bow down. Congratulations to the producers of
the World Cup. You guys win.' You guys f***ed up that flyover too…
You guys absolutely f*cking suck. We're the second worst.â€

White didn't point out which production error exactly caught his
attention during the FIFA World Cup final. Notably, a commentator
confused singer Pharrell Williams with rapper A$AP Rocky. The two
artists later posted a picture together in good humor.

Meanwhile, another commentator confused U.S. Secretary of State
Marco Rubio, who was sitting behind President Donald Trump, with
Cristiano Ronaldo.



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Dricus Du Plessis shares unexpected story behind his Colby Covington friendship

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1 hour ago

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July 20, 2026

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Dricus Du Plessis shares unexpected story behind his Colby Covington friendship
While Dricus Du
Plessis and Colby
Covington are on good terms, their friendship didn't start
cordially.

The former
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champ returned to
winning ways by earning a lopsided unanimous decision win over
Kamaru
Usman (21-5) in the main event at
UFC Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, Covington (17-5) defeated
Arman
Tsarukyan (24-3) in a massive upset in a wrestling match at RAF
11 to be crowned the inaugural crossover cruiserweight champion in
Milwaukee the same day.

“Stillknocks” has now revealed the aftermath of his recent
back-and-forth with Covington.

Dricus Du Plessis and Colby Covington went from trash talk to
friendship after UFC drama

Covington was backing du Plessis to defeat Usman, whom he shared
the cage with twice in welterweight title fights. Usman and
Covington had a heated rivalry when “The Nigerian Nightmare” was
the champion and the bitterness between the two continues to this
day.

Ahead of his bout with Usman, du Plessis revealed that he initially
slammed Covington for recommending non-alcoholic beer to Dustin
Poirier, who recently had a run-in with the law due to public
intoxication. However, the South African believes drinking
non-alcoholic beer is a graver crime than anything Poirier has
done.

Covington then invited du Plessis to share some beers, laying the
foundation for a friendship.

“I was giving him sh*t because he was giving Dustin Poirier sh*t
and telling him to drink alcohol-free beer and that's a bigger
crime than anything Dustin Poirier has ever done,†du Plessis told
Full Send MMA. “I told [Covington] that and then he reached out to
me. He's like, ‘Listen, they have normal beers too, let's get some
normal beers with you.' So, I'm a Colby fan.â€

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MMA

UFC just loaded up Noche 4 with two former champions

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2 hours ago

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July 20, 2026

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UFC just loaded up Noche 4 with two former champions
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship announced six bouts for its
upcoming
Noche UFC event.

The matchups were revealed during the
UFC Oklahoma City broadcast. The 4th edition of Noche UFC is
scheduled for Sept. 12 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale,
Arizona.

Brandon Moreno and Alexa Grasso headline Noche UFC 4 additions
with championship stakes

Former UFC flyweight champion Brandon
Moreno will look to return to winning ways when he takes on
Joseph
Morales on the card. Moreno is on a two-fight skid and needs a
win to return to title contention.

In another pivotal bout with championship implications, former
women’s flyweight titleholder Alexa
Grasso will take on Manon
Fiorot. Grasso is coming off a dominant showing against
Maycee
Barber, while Fiorot made light work of Jasmine
Jasudavicius in her last Octagon outing.

Also added to the card is a flyweight showdown between UFC veteran
Tim
Elliott and rising contender Edgar
Chairez.

In the heavyweight division, Waldo
Cortes-Acosta will face former interim title challenger
Curtis
Blaydes.

Elsewhere on the card, Kelvin
Gastelum will return against Yousri
Belgaroui and J.J. Aldrich
takes on Regina
Tarin in a flyweight bout.

More fights, including the main event, are expected to be announced
in the coming weeks.

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