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Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja have to be separated at UFC 331 press conference: ‘When someone talks, you shut your f*cking mouth’

Published

3 months ago

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Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja have to be separated at UFC 331 press conference: ‘When someone talks, you shut your f*cking mouth’

The rematch between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja has some real heat behind it.

In December, Van took the UFC flyweight title from Pantoja, winning just moments into the fight when Pantoja dislocated his elbow while falling to the ground. Since then, Pantoja has been healing up from his injury, while Van defended his title with a fifth-round stoppage victory over Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328 in May. Now, the two are set to run things back at UFC 331 next month, and at the opening press conference for the event on Friday, things got testy between the two.

“Had that not happened, I would have still whooped his ass that day,†Van said when asked about the injury that awarded him the title. “So September 19, it's just another opportunity for me to whoop his ass again.â€

“I think he needs to wash his mouth,†Pantoja replied. “I respect where I'm from. I'm from Brazil. In Brazil, you need to take care about what you talk. If not, maybe you lose your teeth.â€

Things only heated up from there as Van interrupted Pantoja while he was giving a long answer about what this fight means to him and his history in the division.

“Bro, talk about the fight on September 19,†Van said. “We're not here for your story, bro. We're here for the fight.

“Hey kid, when someone talks, you shut your f*cking mouth,†Pantoja responded. “You understand that?â€

“Shut up. What you gonna do about it?â€

In response to this, Pantoja stood up and started to walk across the dais toward Van, before security intervened to sit him back down, with Van mocking him the whole time.

“You ain't doing shit,†Van said. “Sit your ass down. Sit your ass down; you ain't doing shit. Somebody get him some milk.â€

“Hey kid, September 19, you're gonna be locked in the octagon with me,†Pantoja replied.

This is a new look from Van, who seemed to enjoy needling Pantoja and trying to rile him up. But for the former flyweight champion, this just looked like Van pretending to be something he's not.

“Nothing about Joshua surprises me,†Pantoja said. “He tries to make this character, tries to be the tough guy, but what I see, he's just a fraidy cat. He's afraid.â€

“I ain't afraid of shit,†Van responded.

“Oh, I'm so tough,†Pantoja mocked.

“My name is Fearless,†Van said. “I ain't scared of you.â€

The two then had their first faceoff for this fight, where things remained fiery, with both men jawing at each other and Dana White having to keep them apart.

UFC 331 takes place on Sep. 19 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

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MMA

Tatiana Suarez reveals what she took away from past title fight loss to Zhang Weili

Published

9 hours ago

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November 5, 2026

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Tatiana Suarez reveals what she took away from past title fight loss to Zhang Weili
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UFC star Tatiana Suarez has taken a look back at what she was able to learn from her title loss to Zhang Weili ahead of her return.

In early 2025, Tatiana Suarez fell to her first loss in professional mixed martial arts at the hands of Zhang Weili. Since then, however, she has done a pretty good job of rebuilding herself, with victories over Amanda Lemos and Loopy Godinez.

RELATED: Tatiana Suarez believes she is right back in title conversation after UFC 327

Ahead of her fight against Virna Jandiroba this weekend, Tatiana Suarez has been reflecting on what went down against Zhang Weili. Of course, a loss is always hard to take, but it can often help you become an even better version of yourself.

In an interview, Tatiana Suarez had the following to say on the matter.

Tatiana Suarez reflects on former title fight defeat

“I took a lot from that fight, obviously – um, I guess it's not obvious, because not everybody does that, but I'm sure you have to,†Suarez said. “There's just no way you don't take anything from a loss, you know? For me, it's helped me in a lot of ways mentally. Obviously, it's helped me understand things that I also have to improve on, and more so the mindset of it all. Up until that point, I've never faced any adversity in a fight. So, that was the first time I've ever had to face any type of adversity, and I never stopped coming. I always kept trying, so that's something to be said as well.

“So it does show me that I always just never quit. I'm never just going to be like, ‘OK, I'm done.' She hit me with some good shots, and I just kept coming forward. But I think more importantly, I just feel like being a skilled fighter and having the fight IQ is important when you have big fights like that. So, that's what I definitely learned out there as well is like being smarter and fighting smarter.â€

Quotes via MMA Junkie

Will Suarez compete for a UFC world title again? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, BJPENN Nation!

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

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MMA

Dana White defends Dan Miragliotta over stand-up in Moicano vs. Nolan bout

Published

17 hours ago

on

November 5, 2026

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Dana White defends Dan Miragliotta over stand-up in Moicano vs. Nolan bout
Dana
White has addressed veteran referee Dan Miragliotta's
controversial stand-up in the Renato
“Money†Moicano vs. Tom Nolan
bout.

Moicano suffered a third-round stoppage loss to Nolan at
UFC Vegas 123 on Oct. 31. However, the fight was marred by
controversy when Miragliotta stood the fighters up for inactivity
while Moicano had Nolan's back in the second round. While it's very
rare for a referee to intervene when a fighter has his opponent's
back, White defended Miragliotta's call.

Why Dana White believes Dan Miragliotta made the right
call

The
Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO says that, under the
ruleset, damage is the key factor in stand-ups, not holding
position. White notes that some grapplers can ride their opponent's
back for three rounds and says the referee is right to intervene if
the fighter in a dominant position isn't trying to land damage or
advance position.

“I don't think it's about dominant position,†White said during a
media scrum captured by TheMacLife. “It's about, are you doing
damage or not, trying to win the fight? Some of these guys are so
good, they can f*cking take your back and ride it out for three
rounds. The rules are, if you’re not doing damage or trying to
advance your position, or trying to win the fight, you get stood
up.â€

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MMA

Aaron Pico reveals ideal next opponents but admits ‘I really don’t give a sh*t’ who UFC gives me

Published

1 day ago

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November 4, 2026

By

Aaron Pico reveals ideal next opponents but admits ‘I really don’t give a sh*t’ who UFC gives me

Aaron Pico isn't in the business of picking and choosing his fights.

After he was supposed to face Arnold Allen at UFC 333, and ultimately faced top prospect Losene Keita instead, Pico never lost any sleep about going from a ranked opponent to a newcomer with only two UFC fights on his resume. In the end, Pico delivered a vicious first-round knockout to improve his own UFC record to 2-1 and now he's ready for the next step towards his ultimate goal of becoming champion.

Pico admits there are some ideal opponents out there for him as he looks ahead to what comes next.

“I think anybody ahead of me in the ranking,†Pixo told MMA Fighting. “I'm definitely going to be watching the Aljamain [Sterling] fight very closely. That's always a possibility. But Lerone Murphy, I'd love to fight him as well. I have no hard feelings against him other than he beat me, and I'd love to avenge that loss. I think fought I really dumb, and he got very, very lucky. But a lot of blessings came after that loss so I'm OK with it.

“We'll see how the Kevin Vallejos and Aljamain Sterling fight goes and if everything goes smooth and no injuries with those guys, maybe that's a possibility of fighting the winner of that. Can't have that, I'd love to run it back with Lerone Murphy. We'll have to see.â€

Of course, Murphy scored a knockout win over Pico in his octagon debut so it's understandable why that rematch offers so much interest to the former Bellator fighter.

That said, Pico makes it clear that he's not in the business of turning down fights much less being that selective when it comes to his opponents.

Much like accepting the Keita fight with the knowledge that it was a high risk, low reward situation, Pico just doesn't like the idea of picking and choosing his opponents even if the person he's fighting doesn't have a number next to their name.

“I'm just speaking honestly from the heart, I'm just going to let you know how I feel. I don't really look at the rankings or anything like that,†Pico said. “Of course, I'm like oh this guy is No. 5 or this guy is No. 10. I'm truly in the mindset I'm after one thing and that's to be the best fighter in the world and fight the best in the world.

“Of course, I have a manager and I let him handle a lot of things and I tell him ‘who do you want me to fight?' and I always tell my family this, when I'm 60 years old in my rocking chair at my ranch, I want to be able to say I fought whoever they threw at me. I really don't give a shit. Some guys are like ‘I can't fight him because he's No. 10 or No. 12 and I'm No. 4.' I truly don't even look at that.

Pico would love nothing more than to have the chance to climb up the featherweight ladder and eventually fight for the title but he's not going to turn down fights just because an opponent doesn't logically make sense.

“I'm of the mindset right now, I am a beginner and I'm trying to learn as much as I possibly can,†Pico said. “I know I have to fight the best guys in the world. Yeah, of course, it's going to be a little bit scary. Of course, I'm a little bit nervous going into fights and training camps, but that just is what it is.

“I'm comfortable with that. If I fight a guy that's not ranked, it just is what it is. I know if I have that mindset, the belt will come sooner than later.â€

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