Joshua
Van hasn’t forgotten the night Charles
Johnson handed him the first loss of his
Ultimate Fighting Championship career.
Over two years after being stopped by Johnson, Van has gone from
prospect to UFC flyweight champion. The 24-year-old will return to
the Octagon on Sept. 19, when he rematches former champion Alexandre
Pantoja in the UFC
331 main event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
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Joshua Van details how KO loss to Charles Johnson ‘humbled’
him
Van was stopped by Johnson via a third-round knockout in July 2024,
a setback that remains the second and most recent loss of his
professional career. He has since won seven straight fights and
captured the flyweight championship from Pantoja before defending
it against Tatsuro
Taira.
Speaking to Paramount+, Van explained how the defeat changed his
approach to training and discipline.
“Oh, for sure. I want to stay active,” Van said. “Like I say, that
loss kind of humbled me in a way. So, I never want to taste defeat
again. So, my work ethic that I put in the gym is just different
from that day on.”
Van said that he doesn’t believe he needed to completely overhaul
his fighting style after the loss. Instead, he said the focus was
on remaining himself and avoiding the mistakes that preceded the
Johnson bout.
“Going into that camp, there’s a lot of things that I did that I
shouldn’t have done,” Van added. “Stuff like that, but there’s no
excuse… He beat me fair and square. And it humbled me to become a
better fighter.”