Joshua Van forced a changing of the guard in the flyweight division at UFC 323 when he ended the dominant reign of Alexandre Pantoja – but not in the way anyone could’ve predicted.Van (16-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) became one of the youngest champions in company history with a first-round injury TKO win over Pantoja (30-6 MMA, 14-4 UFC), who suffered a dislocated elbow, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, becoming just the sixth champion in divisional history.Check below for the top X (formerly Twitter) reactions to Van’s unfortunate title win vs. Pantoja at UFC 323.Not much longer now…👀@PantojaMMA vs @JoshuaVanBT is coming up![ #UFC323 is LIVE NOW on @ESPN PPV ] pic.twitter.com/gctVqf3FBZ— UFC (@ufc) December 7, 2025OMG. Pantoja just injured his arm throwing a kick in the opening seconds and has lost the flyweight title to Joshua Van by TKO.— Andreas Hale (@AndreasHale) December 7, 2025Awful. Completely gutted for Pantoja, and surely not the way Joshua Van wanted to be crowned champion. Sucks, man. #UFC323— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohn) December 7, 2025OMG! #UFC323— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) December 7, 2025Wowww crazy— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) December 7, 2025Told you— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) December 7, 2025Pantoja injured in the opening exchange and he waves the fight off. Left arm looked pretty nasty. Tough way to lose the belt, but Joshua Van is the new champion. #UFC323— Adam Hill (@AdamHillLVRJ) December 7, 2025Man stop the replay! #UFC323— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) December 7, 2025OMG! Pantoja dislocated his elbow. That hurts to watch. 😵#UFC323— Diana Belbiță (@DianaBelbita) December 7, 2025WELLLLLL. Joshua Van is now the 2nd youngest champion in UFC history at 24 years, 1 month, and 27 days (J. Jones: 23 years, 8 months, 1 day). #UFC323— Michael Carroll (@MJCflipdascript) December 7, 2025Alexandre Pantoja is taken backstage after losing his title at #UFC323 due to injury pic.twitter.com/cAZ745Ban8— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) December 7, 2025#UFC323 results: Joshua Van def. Alexandre Pantoja via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 0:26 – to win flyweight titleFull coverage ➡️ https://t.co/ehY4vPieJlpic.twitter.com/DIv9HrT1IO— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) December 7, 2025JOSHUA VAN IS THE NEW FLYWEIGHT CHAMPION AFTER STARTING 2025 AS AN UNRANKED FIGHTER.HE IS THE FIRST FIGHTER BORN IN THE 2000s TO WIN A TITLE AND THE 2ND YOUNGEST IN UFC HISTORY BEHIND JON JONES. #UFC323pic.twitter.com/IGCP0LYBNI— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 7, 2025At 26 seconds, Van’s win over Pantoja is the fastest title fight finish in flyweight history, beating out Henry Cejudo’s 32 second knockout of TJ Dillashaw.It is the third fastest finish in flyweight history overall.— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) December 7, 2025Van been averaging 5 fights a year let’s see if he can beat Merab’s record as a champ— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) December 7, 2025This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 323: Fighters react to Joshua Van’s injury win vs. Alexandre Pantoja