Joshua Van has his sights set on turning into part of historical past and being aligned with Jon Jones, however he’s on a little bit of a good timeline to attain this feat. Following his victory over the primary flyweight contender Brandon Royval, which was his second win within the month of June, Van appears hungry for a title shot alternative following UFC 317.
Pursuing a championship belt is fascinating to fighters for apparent causes, however a title victory at this juncture would place the surging 125-pounder right into a historic context with Jon Jones. On the UFC 317 post-event press convention whereas addressing on-site media members as to what he hopes to attain earlier than we encroach deep into Autumn, Van stated,
“I’m the identical age as Jon Jones was when he received the belt. They’re going to need to e-book me earlier than October so I can no less than match his data.”
Joshua Van and the youngest champions in UFC historical past
Joshua Van is twenty-three years previous which, as he talked about above, is similar age Jon Jones was when he grew to become the UFC gentle heavyweight champion after ending Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua inside the space. Whereas Van’s clock is ticking a bit as he can be turning twenty-four on October tenth, per Tapology, there’s a particular alternative right here for the Myanmar native if he does in truth get booked right into a title battle subsequent towards reigning flyweight kingpin Alexandre Pantoja.
Whereas Van might doubtlessly squeeze onto the throne with Jones within the coming months, it’s curious to look again at among the youngest titleholders all through the historical past of the UFC. Previous to Jones carrying out what he did, Jose Aldo was the youngest UFC champion of all time on the tender age of 24 after holding the WEC crown at 145 kilos earlier than the UFC acquired that firm and topped ‘Scarface’ their inaugural champion for that weight class.
Earlier than the times of Jose Aldo terrorizing the octagon, Josh Barnett was the youngest UFC champion ever and whereas he was additionally 24 on the time, ‘The Warmaster’ was finally older than Aldo. There’s a comparable framework with the prior youngest champion in firm historical past with Carlos Newton additionally being 24 years previous, albeit older than Barnett, when he captured the UFC welterweight strap in what was additionally the primary occasion of a Canadian combatant holding UFC gold.
