That is what Joshua Van told the late Thomas Gerbasi last December, ahead of his fight with Cody Durden at UFC 310. Still just 23 years old at the time, the flyweight prospect was only a couple months removed from defeating Edgar Chairez at Noche UFC, readying for his fourth fight of the 2024 and sixth trip into the Octagon since debuting 18 months earlier.
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There is no way he could have known how prophetic his words would turn out to be, but with a victory on Saturday night at UFC 323, Van can fully take over the flyweight division.
“Me and my boy (Michael Aswell Jr.), ever since I fought in Sphere, that was my comeback fight after I lost, and I told him after I won that fight, ‘This year, we’re gonna take over and by 2025, we’re gonna be champion,’” Van said in his syrupy drawl just a few days ahead of facing Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC flyweight title. “It’s just manifesting things before they happen and stuff like that, and then we work as hard as we can to achieve them.
“It’s just the hunger, man,” he said about why that win over the Mexican veteran last September was such a pivotal moment for him. “I used to get a big head or things like that, and after that win, something just sparked. I don’t ever want to get out-worked or lose a fight because things that I didn’t do in camp or stuff like that. It was a new spark.”
Van beat Durden afterward, putting two victories between him and his July loss to Charles Johnson, reaffirming his standing as the top prospect in the 125-pound weight class heading into this year.
He returned to action in March, staying on the UFC 311 fight card after Bruno Silva was forced out with an injury, and dominated Road to UFC winner Rei Tsuruya to push his winning streak to three. By June, Silva was ready to compete, and the two faced off at UFC 316 in Newark, with the Houston-based native of Myanmar building into the contest and finishing the Brazilian “Bulldog” with a mix of body blows and rapid-fire hooks to the dome along the fence.
Just before he tipped back his first celebratory beverage at his victory party back home, Van’s phone buzzed. Manel Kape was out of his pivotal clash with Brandon Royval, and the spot was his if he wanted it. The fight was three weeks away, and “The Fearless” lived up to his moniker, accepting in a flash, trading his drink of choice for a glass of water and getting right back down to business.
At UFC 317, he traded in the prospect label for something that carries much more weight: contender. Van he ran level with Royval through two rounds and used a late onslaught in the third to defeat the former title challenger. In the span of a month, the now 24-year-old went from intriguing prospect to No. 1 contender about four years after making his professional debut.
“I just thought if you train hard, you put in the work in the gym, it comes naturally,” Van said. “I feel like I was just believing in my coaches and my hard work, so it just feels natural. It feels normal to me.
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“We have a great opportunity to prove that to the world, and I can’t wait to do that.”
To be clear: this is not normal, but Van is constantly proving that he’s an atypical talent, so the two seem to mesh quite well.
The perfect representation of that comes in the way he talks about Pantoja, the dominant titleholder he’ll share the cage with this weekend in Las Vegas, and the genuine excitement that radiates from him as he speaks about finally getting to compete again.
After all, it has been a whole five months since he last set foot in the Octagon, and for someone that logged nine appearances in his first two years on the roster, that kind of layoff feels like a lifetime.
“My mom and my auntie where just asking me, ‘Why do you keep smiling? You’re about to fight,’ but I’m just happy to be getting back in the cage,” he said. “For the first two months after I won my last fight, I was vacationing, took some breaks because I knew this camp was gonna be hard as f***… I took some time off, but we got back at it and now we’re about to fight for a title. It’s amazing to be able to fight with a guy like (Pantoja), especially right now because he’s at his highest point, and I’m a new up-and-coming guy that gets to fight him. He’s a legend, and I’m just blessed enough to be able to fight him.
“Come fight night, we’re gonna see who’s the better man, and I can’t wait.”
The 35-year-old Brazilian champion enters Saturday’s title bout on an 8-fight winning streak and searching for a fifth consecutive successful title defense. He’s successfully turned back challengers on each of the last two December numbered events, dominating Royval two years ago and making quick work of Rizin standout Kai Asakura last year.
Although he’s still less than halfway to Demetrious Johnson’s record for the most consecutive successful title defenses in the division and the UFC, which stands at 11 straight, the strength of schedule the American Top Team representative has fought over the course of his UFC career — and in particular his championship bouts — have prompted questions about Pantoja’s place in the division’s all-time ranks to begin being asked.
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While he certainly still has ground to make up, “The Cannibal” is unquestionably closing the gap, but even that reality wasn’t enough to shake the unflappable flyweight challenger once the bout became official.
“When the contract came, I was just like, ‘Damn — this is for real!’” Van recalled with excitement and a laugh. “For like two days, I was like, ‘Damn, I’m gonna fight for a world title,’ but after that, it was time to lock in.
“I was very excited for two days, but now it’s like a normal fight now. We can’t look at it as bigger than any other fight.”
Again, this isn’t a normal fight, and it is certainly bigger than any other contest he’s had thus far in his career, but that approach, that genuine outlook regarding a championship fight that has him on the poster for the final numbered event of 2025 is precisely why Van could very well close out the year by fully taking over the division.
Call it naivety, bravado, or simply not knowing any different — however you want to look at it, Saturday’s challenger is locked in, knows he’s about to be standing across the Octagon from the most dangerous opponent of his career, and genuinely believes that when the sun rises on Sunday morning, he will be the UFC flyweight champion.
“I envision everything that I’m gonna do that night, and if it goes to plan, it will be amazing,” he said. It’s gonna be a tough fight, for sure. He’s definitely gonna check my ground game, for sure, and if he do, we’ve got something for him.
“I’m confident everywhere the fight goes. It’s going to be a hard fight, but I’m planning on knocking him out inside three rounds.”
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