Joshua Van does not see a fight with Alexandre Pantoja going the distance if the former does get his crack at the flyweight championship in his next outing.

Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van

During an interview with Nolan King of MMA Junkie, Van covered several subjects in the wake of his massively impressive showing during UFC’s International Fight Week. At UFC 317, Van had an incredible barn burner bout against the then-number one contender at 125 pounds in Brandon Royval, with the former besting the latter via unanimous decision in an outing that garnered the fight of the night distinction.

With two massive showings in the month of June alone with statement wins on the promotion’s last two pay-per-views, it seems like a crack at the gold is next with Van vaulting eleven spots in the last rankings update to ascend to the number one contender spot. When asked for his viewpoint of how a clash with the dominant flyweight champion, Pantoja would go, Van said,

“I’ll finish him. I can’t tell you what round, but I’ll finish him for sure.”

When asked, you excited for the five rounds?’ by King in a follow-up question, Van retorted,

“Yeah, but it’s not going to go five rounds.”

Joshua Van and his chance to tie Jon Jones’ record

Joshua Van has expressed to many that he wants a shot at Alexandre Pantoja‘s belt before we get into the Fall season because he has a unique chance to be part of history. The 23-year-old contender will encroach on being 24 on October 10th, and if he wins a strap before that date, Van will be tied with Jon Jones for the record of youngest champion in UFC history.

Jones achieved this feat in March 2011 at UFC 128 when he finished Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua a bit over the halfway mark of round three after unleashing a torrent of strikes onto the Brazilian champion.

Prior to Jones capturing light heavyweight gold, Jose Aldo had been the promotion’s youngest-ever champion when the UFC acquired WEC, with Aldo holding WEC gold at featherweight and being inserted as the UFC’s inaugural featherweight champion when Aldo was 24.