Joshua VanvsAlexandre Pantoja

Alexandre Pantoja is on an absolute tear right now, and the flyweight division is running out of answers. The Cannibal just wrapped up his third straight title defense back in June, catching Kai Kara-France with that signature rear naked choke in the third round. That's five straight wins with the belt on the line, and he's finished three of them by submission. The dude's a problem. Joshua Van earned this shot the hard way, rattling off five straight wins in the UFC. He just beat Brandon Royval by decision at UFC 317 on the same card where Pantoja defended against Kara-France.

Before that, he knocked out Bruno Silva with ground and pound in the third round back in June. Van's striking volume is crazy - he landed 127 of 169 against Rei Tsuruya with a 75% accuracy rate. The Myanmar fighter's got momentum and he's not scared of anyone. Here's the thing though - Pantoja's grappling is on another level. He's averaging over 7 minutes of control time in his title fights, and when he locks in that rear naked choke, it's goodnight. Van's never faced someone with this kind of suffocating pressure.

Pantoja landed 9 takedowns against Steve Erceg and controlled him for over 8 minutes. Van's striking is slick, but can he keep this fight standing for 25 minutes? This is Pantoja's chance to cement himself as one of the best flyweight champs ever. Van's got the tools to make it interesting, but The Cannibal's been in deep water with killers and always finds a way.