Joshua Van Details UFC 331 Shoulder Injury

Joshua Van left UFC 331 with another successful flyweight title defense, but his post-fight comments showed how difficult the route to Alexandre Pantoja had been. Van defeated Pantoja in the Los Angeles main event after five rounds and later disclosed that he had been preparing with a torn AC joint in his right shoulder. The injury, he said, arrived after the press conference in Philadelphia, a little more than a month before the rematch. It prevented him from sparring through most of camp and forced a major adjustment to his usual work. Van still completed the fight against Pantoja, then described both the pain he felt afterward and his appreciation for sharing five rounds with an opponent he rates highly.

The update is significant because Van did not present the injury as a minor inconvenience. He said he could not even spar after hurting his shoulder. Instead, the camp was built around what he was able to do, with cardio and running taking the place of regular contact work. His first sparring sessions came only in the final two weeks before UFC 331. That creates a defined picture of the preparation without assigning the injury responsibility for any particular stretch of the bout. Van won the fight, but the details he provided explain why his camp did not follow its normal rhythm. He also said he needed to return for MRIs and additional checks, while hoping the problem was not more serious. No timetable for another title defense was established in those remarks, and Van did not name a confirmed next opponent. The immediate certainty is limited to what he described: a right-shoulder AC joint tear, a long absence from sparring, cardio-based training and a late return to contact before a five-round championship fight.

A late return to sparring shaped Van’s camp

Van placed the injury after the Philadelphia press conference and said it occurred a little over a month before he faced Pantoja again. From that point, sparring was largely unavailable. The final two weeks of camp were, in Van’s words, the first time he had been able to spar. That is the central training detail from his account, rather than an attempt to recast the entire UFC 331 performance through an injury lens. He made clear that his team had leaned on cardio work, including running, while he managed the shoulder. For a fighter entering a five-round main event, the contrast between a full camp and the work Van described is clear: contact preparation was restricted, while conditioning remained an available focus. Van’s account also leaves some medical questions unresolved. Although he identified the injury as an AC joint tear in his right shoulder, he said he still had to undergo MRIs and get checked up after the event. He expressed hope that the findings would not reveal anything major. Until those checks take place, the available information is what Van said at the post-fight press conference, not a confirmed outlook for his recovery or his next appearance.

The sequence can be read in straightforward order. Van said the shoulder was hurt after the Philadelphia media event, then said he could not spar for most of the remaining preparation. Cardio became the work he described completing, and sparring resumed only during the closing two weeks. He then fought Pantoja for five rounds at UFC 331 and spoke publicly about the situation afterward. That chronology matters because it separates verified camp details from conclusions that Van did not make. He did not provide a return date, announce a future opponent or say that the shoulder explained every aspect of the fight. He did say he was in pain when asked for his initial reaction to the win. He also said he was grateful for the opportunity to fight Pantoja over five rounds. The post-fight medical follow-up remains part of the story as well: Van said he would get MRIs and be evaluated. For now, the injury report adds context to a completed title defense rather than supplying a settled answer about what comes next.

The Pantoja rematch added to Van’s title run

The UFC 331 result gave Van a win over Pantoja in their rematch and marked his second successful title defense. Van first became champion when the initial meeting with Pantoja ended after Pantoja suffered a freak injury in the opening moments. Since then, Van has defended the title with victories over Pantoja and Tatsuro Taira. The rematch therefore gave the champion a five-round outcome against Pantoja, with Van later revealing that his own camp had been affected by the shoulder injury. After the bout, Van called Pantoja a great fighter and said he viewed him as one of the greatest of all time. His first response when asked about the victory was that he felt pain, before he returned to praise for Pantoja and gratitude for the fight. Van also pointed to a source of motivation from inside his camp. Michael Aswell trained alongside him for UFC 331 and won a decision over Joo Sang Yoo earlier on the card. Van said Aswell had hurt his rib, and said the two fighters chose not to pull out despite entering their bouts injured. In Van’s telling, that shared decision to continue gave him added motivation. The night ended successfully for both men, but Van’s comments kept the emphasis on the challenge of reaching the event as much as the result itself.

• Van said the right-shoulder AC joint tear occurred after the Philadelphia press conference, a little more than a month before the Pantoja rematch.
• He said sparring was unavailable for most of camp, with cardio work and running taking its place.
• Van said his first sparring sessions came in the final two weeks before UFC 331.
• After the win, Van said he needed MRIs and further medical checks and hoped the injury was not more serious.

Van’s disclosure changes the context around his UFC 331 win without changing the established result. He defeated Pantoja over five rounds, retained the flyweight title and added a second successful defense to his reign. Before that fight, Van said, a tear to the AC joint in his right shoulder had removed sparring from most of his camp and shifted his preparation toward cardio and running. His return to sparring came in the final two weeks. The next part of the story is not yet defined. Van said he needs MRIs and further evaluation, and he did not provide a confirmed opponent or date for another defense. What is clear is the camp timeline he shared and the way it preceded a successful rematch with Pantoja.