Athletes
The Flyweight Division | 2026 Preview
A New Champion, Relentless Challengers, And High-Stakes Matchups Define Life At 125 Pounds Entering 2026
Inherently, the idea and sight of two large athletes colliding in combat is always going to hold mass appeal, even while action involving smaller athletes is just as fierce.
Such is life for the lightest men’s weight division. For the better part of the 2020s, the flyweight division has been sort of “if you know, you know” in terms of its entertainment value. To be great at 125 pounds, an athlete can’t have a glaring skill gap in any area. One-punch power or slick grappling isn’t enough when opponents can scramble away or put together combinations with quickness.
2025 UFC.COM AWARDS: The Newcomers | The Submissions | The Knockouts | The Fighters | The Fights
That reality made Alexandre Pantoja’s reign as champion all the more impressive. However, just when it seemed like “The Cannibal” was getting his proper flowers, the fight game reared its cruel head, ending his 2-and-a-half-year stint on the throne via injury. That said, newly minted champion Joshua Van represents another reality of combat sports: you have to make your own luck. That’s what the 24-year-old did in 2025, and UFC’s youngest champion since Jon Jones now gets to learn what life is like with a target on his back, with myriad challenges, experienced and otherwise, ahead.
Title Picture
Champion: Joshua Van
Contenders: Alexandre Pantoja, Manel Kape, Tatsuro Taira
Names to Watch: Brandon Royval, Brandon Moreno, Amir Albazi, Asu Almabayev, Kyoji Horiguchi
Outlook for 2026: Less than 30 seconds into Pantoja’s sixth title fight in 29 months, his left elbow popped out of place, forcing him to relent the belt to Van. It was an objective tragedy and no way for Pantoja’s championship run to end, but by all reports, the Brazilian will be able to return to action soon enough in 2026, and by all rights, he will have an immediate chance to win back his title. If that comes against Van is unknown as the ever-active youngster could very well put his title back on the line in the first quarter of 2026 if prompted. Before his title shot, Van collected five wins in nine months, including two wins in June, to set himself up against Pantoja, so he has already proven himself as one of the best 125ers in the world.
FOLLOW @UFCNEWS: On Facebook | On Instagram | On X | On Threads
Waiting in the wings if he wants to fight before Pantoja is ready include a pair of standouts: Manel Kape and Tatsuro Taira. Kape has long been considered a potential champion, and he rounded into form in the last year, scoring knockout wins over Bruno Silva, Asu Almabayev and Brandon Royval in the last 12 months. “Starboy” is as talented as it gets in the weight division, and at 32 years old, he seems in the thick of his prime.
Still just scratching the surface of his potential, on the other hand, is Tatsuro Taira. The 25-year-old has steadily climbed the ladder since joining the promotion in May 2022, and after dropping a main event bout to Brandon Royval in 2024, he rounded into even sharper form in 2025 to secure second-round stoppages over HyunSung Park and Brandon Moreno. The latter victory over the former champion cemented his status as a legitimate title contender, and there is certainly narrative appeal to pitting a pair of fighters born in the 2000s against each other in a title fight.
Beyond the trio of title contenders sits a mishmash of a queue. The Brandons (Moreno and Royval) are sort of in limbo as fighters who’ve fought the best of the best for the last few years, but recent losses have muddied their paths to the top. Almabayev bounced back from his loss to Kape to notch two wins in 2025, and he should get a shot at that group-outside-the-group to start 2026. Elsewhere, Amir Albazi seeks his first win since June 2023 against Kyoji Horiguchi, who made a loud return to the Octagon with a submission win over Tagir Ulanbekov in Qatar. Whichever man comes away from that bout with his hand raised could set himself up for a shot at the title picture later in 2026.
2026 DIVISION PREVIEWS: Lightweight | Welterweight
The general consensus still considers Pantoja the cream of the flyweight crop, and his body of work speaks for itself. The injury-induced changing of the guard does throw some timelines into a fun loop. If Pantoja can return in the first half of 2026, a rematch is in store, which could potentially force Taira and Kape into a No. 1 contender situation unless they feel comfortable waiting in the wings. But as Van showed in 2025, the best way to make a case for oneself is to fight and win. Pantoja’s resume says the same. Whether the rest of the division takes up that lesson could mean a highly intriguing series of events in the new year.
Other Names to Track: Allan Nascimento, Lone’er Kavanagh
Tags