A fight that has long been rumored for UFC 323 appears to now have been confirmed, leaked by, of all people, a fighter who competed on the UFC Rio card.
During his post-fight interview, Michael Aswell Jr. advocated to compete next on UFC 323, which was recently confirmed for December 6 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Aswell cited a desire to compete on the same card as his teammate, Joshua Van. And that was when Aswell said Van would be challenging Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight championship on the card.
Van has been pegged as the next title challenger after his short-notice victory over former title challenger Brandon Royval at UFC 317 in June, and the fight had been rumored to take place in December.
Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van For Flyweight Title Now Confirmed For UFC 323?
Van is 15-2 in MMA, including a 8-1 record. Since his knockout loss to Charles Johnson, Van has won five straight, which includes a finish of Bruno Silva at UFC 316, just four weeks before his win over Royval.
This fight would mark Pantoja's fifth flyweight title defense attempt. Pantoja, who has won eight straight, defeated Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 for the title. Since then, he's defended the belt against Royval at UFC 296, Steve Erceg at UFC 301, Kai Asakura at UFC 310, and Kai Kara-France at UFC 317.
Aswell, meanwhile, made quick work of Lucas Almeida in the featured prelim of UFC Rio.
UFC 323 will mark the last pay-per-view event of the UFC's ESPN era, with the final Fight Night card happening the next week.
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