Joshua Van explains why he didn't pull out of UFC 331 despite suffering severe injury

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Joshua Van‘s performance at UFC 331 is that much more iconic after the details of his injury have been released.

A grudge match with the man he took the title from headlined the event on Saturday. Two flyweights from different generations collided to settle their differences in the cage. The build-up to the fight was good, but the fight itself was legendary. A certified Hall of Fame entry, courtesy of two of the best 125-pounders in the world. Van outworked Alexandre Pantoja, a hard feat in itself, to defend his throne and continue his reign as champion. But to even make it to fight night was impressive for Van.

Weeks ahead of his scheduled title defense, Joshua Van suffered a torn AC joint in his right shoulder. The injury meant that Van couldn’t spar or grapple, and spent most of his camp working on cardio. Van recently opened up about the injury, saying:

“We had the press conference in Philly, and then when I came back to Houston, trying to start my training, we did wrestling. I fell on my right shoulder. We thought it was just a minor injury, but then the next day I woke up I can’t even lift my arm. We noticed the UFC, and they sent us to the MRIs and all that stuff, and it was an AC joint.”

Van continued.

“I can’t even train boxing. I can’t even train wrestling. I can’t do nothing; all I did was run.”

Any regular fighter would pull out and ask the UFC to reschedule their bout, but not Joshua Van. He was determined to prove to his fans, and more importantly his opponent, that he is the best in the world.

“No, [I didn’t consider pulling out] not really,” Van added. “The thing is, Pantoja was already saying I was scared to fight him, so I was like, if I pull out, I’m the main event, so I got the thing on my shoulder. So, I’m like, I can’t pull out… five weeks into the camp, I hurt my shoulder.”

“For three weeks I can’t really do nothing, you know. I can’t spar. I can’t do nothing. So, I’m like, ‘Damn, man. How am I going to do it in this fight?’ And so, two weeks out, I was like, I still feel the pain, but let me go and spar. And I did my first sparring two weeks [before my fight]. The last week of training, I told my head coach that I want to do one more sparring. But he said no. But then I was like, I gotta get my timing because I haven’t been sparring all this camp. So, let me do one more time. So, the last week I sparred.”

Listen to Joshua Van and more below.