Bilal Hasan Breaks Down Formula to Beat UFC Flyweight Champ Joshua Van

Joshua Van Has Been On A Tear

Joshua Van won the title at UFC 323 last year after Alexandre Pantoja suffered a freak arm injury. In the months that followed, "The Fearless" defended his belt against Tatsuro Taira before recently defeating Pantoja in a rematch to prove his title win was no "accident."

Van is expected to lock horns with knockout artist Manel Kape next.

Bilal Hasan Breaks Down What Kind Of Fighters Can Trouble Joshua Van

In a recent interview with Full Mount MMA, Bilal Hasan lauded Joshua Van, adding that the latter is improving with every fight and is performing well against grapplers and orthodox fighters.

Hasan believes fighters with "basic technique" are easy matchups for Joshua Van. However, he sees unorthodox fighters like Manel Kape as potential threats to Van's title reign.

" Van, he's just getting better with every fight, and I feel like he just does well against grapplers. He's fought grapplers his last two fights. I think if he's going to fight Manel, that's going to be a little bit of a harder fight. But I've been saying this; I just feel like Joshua Van, like, it's not an easy fight for me by any means. I just feel like stylistically, like it's a hard match-up for him, and I think it favors me. So I feel like that's how it is in MMA. Styles make match-ups."

"The IndoNinja" also pointed out that Charles Johnson, who also has a very unpredictable fighting style, previously knocked Van out. The 25-year-old added that while he does not consider Van an easy matchup, stylistically, he is a hard matchup for "The Fearless."

"Someone like Joshua Van, like, you need to be unorthodox. He does really good against guys that I don't want to say predictable, but that are going to kind of stand in front of you and kind of throw basic techniques. They're not going to someone that, you know, shifts a lot, doesn't give you a linear path, and is constantly switching stances and making it hard for you to counter and basically read. Like, he's super good. Like, one thing that he does really well is his pressure and countering ability. But, if he's going to go against someone like Manel, that's super unorthodox, is not going to let him, you know, walk you down. He's going to punish you for trying to get into the distance, and then it's just going to be hard to counter because he's not giving you, you know, that line of path. And on top of that, he's athletic. You know, you look at, you know, shout out to even Charles Johnson, man."

Lastly, "The IndoNinja" added that anyone who's "longer, shifty, and very unorthodox" has a solid chance of dethroning Joshua Van.

"He's like one of the most unorthodox guys there. He's a very dangerous fight for anyone. And he gives problems to a lot of people because he has an unorthodox style. He's athletic, and he's a vet. You know, so I feel like just an accumulation of those things. I think that would be the game plan to beat Van. He's got a small upper body, so he can kind of shrimp out of, you know, grappling positions and get out and then DC back up on the feet. And so I feel like it's someone that's going to be, you know, longer, shifty, and very unorthodox. That's the style to beat him."

Check out Bilal Hasan's comments about Joshua Van below (13:26):

Bilal Hasan earned his UFC contract in August by knocking out India's Mridul Sakia. He made his UFC debut later that month against Nilson Rojas and secured a Round 2 knockout victory. 

Hasan will next lock horns with Luis Gurule at UFC 334 in November.