UFC Fighter Alexandre Pantoja Suffers Grotesque Elbow Injury Early In Match

In an unfortunate turn of events, the heavily anticipated UFC 323 championship fight lasted less than 30 seconds.

Alexandre Pantoja — who was attempting to defend his title belt during the Saturday, December 6, fight in Las Vegas — lost his bout to Joshua Van after a gruesome injury immediately took him out of the competition.

Just 26 seconds into the match, Pantoja threw a kick, but came down on his arm at an odd angle, causing his elbow to twist in the wrong direction.

The nauseating injury disqualified Pantoja from the match, giving Van a TKO win and the championship by default.

After the match, Pantoja took to Instagram to update his fans on his injury, sharing his disappointment while looking ahead to his comeback — whenever that may be.

“That’s what happens, accidents,” said the Brazilian fighter via an Instagram video. “When I go to the UFC today, I think I’m in the best shape of my life. When I saw Joshua Van on the other side of the octagon, I believed I could finish him in the first round. That’s what I tried to do. … I feel so comfortable in the octagon. That’s my octagon, that’s my belt. That’s everything I did in my life to get to that moment.

He continued, “Joshua Van, that’s his destiny to win this belt tonight. I just can’t win this belt with my injury today. … I’m going to work very hard. I worked out very hard all my life, and I’m going to work again and I’m going to take my belt again.”

Pantoja said he’s flying back to Brazil on Sunday to begin his recovery, and on Monday will “start to follow my dream again.”

“We appreciate all the messages,” he said. “Everybody knows about myself. Everybody understands I’m a very respectful guy. I respect, first, my family. I’m never going to say bulls**t about anyone. I’m just going to work very hard and bring the belt back to my home.”

Details on the injury are still coming out, but UFC CEO Dana White shared that Pantoja suffered a dislocated shoulder, despite video of the incident showing Pantoja’s elbow turned the wrong way.

“They popped his shoulder back in,” White said. “I thought it was the elbow. No, it was not the elbow — it was his shoulder, and they popped it back in backstage. Now they’ve got to do MRIs and check out the ligaments and see how it is.”

White said there is no timeframe for Pantoja’s return yet, but shared he’s “going to need some time.”

Van said he’s already looking forward to the rematch with Pantoja once he’s healed.

“This whole week it was kill or be killed. I knew I was going to win the fight, but I didn’t want the fight to end that way, for sure,” Van said. “As soon as [Pantoja] is recovered, I want to run it back. I respect him so much, and he’s one of the greatest of all time.

He continued, “It doesn’t matter [if he’s next], but I feel like he deserves it. Whatever the UFC wants is what I’m going to do next, but I do want to run it back with him, for sure.”