50-45?! Joshua Van blanks Alexandre Pantoja on UFC 331 judge’s scorecard

Alexandre Pantoja gave everything he had at UFC 331, but the judges were not impressed with his performance.

Pantoja was looking to win back his flyweight title from Joshua Van after a fluke elbow dislocation cost him the belt back in December 2025. But after five hard fought rounds, the scorecards were solidly in Van's favor, giving the 24 year old champ his second successful title defense.

While "The Cannibal" pushed forward through the fight with reckless abandon and managed to land some of the best muay thai knees we've seen in a long time, it was Van's crisp striking that carried "The Fearless" to his win, and dropped Pantoja to two losses in a row.

It was clear by the end of the fight who deserved to win, and the judges picked Van by varying degrees. Ron McCarthy had Van winning all five rounds for a clean sweep, while Sal D'Amato had it 49-46 Van with Pantoja winning just the fourth round. Derek Cleary had it 48-47 for Van, with Pantoja taking rounds 1 and 4.

We'd say Cleary had the best card of the bunch. While not all shots are created equal, Pantoja landed almost twice as many significant strikes than Van in the first round. Round four was also a clear Pantoja round … to everyone but Ron McCarthy, anyway.

It's a shame to see the 36 year old Pantoja not getting his due on the scorecards, even if it wouldn't have flipped the decision to a win. The right guy won, but bad judging is bad judging, even if they got the outcome right.