Houston's Joshua Van to defend his flyweight title against Manel Kape at UFC 336 in January

Houston's Joshua Van reacts with Joe Rogan after a victory against Alexandre Pantoja of Brazil in the UFC flyweight championship fight during the UFC 331 event at Crypto.com Arena on September 19, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) Joshua Van cemented himself as the class of UFC's flyweight division with his dominant win over Alexandre Pantoja in September. Now, he'll get another chance to prove it when he faces Manel Kape, the only flyweight ranked in the top four that the Houston fighter hasn't already defeated.Van (18-2) will defend his flyweight title against Kape (23-7) at UFC 336 on Jan. 30 at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena.The 25-year-old Van, who was born in Myanmar but has lived in Houston since he was 12 years old, has taken the flyweight division by storm over the past 16 months and can thank Kape for giving him an opportunity. Van stepped in to fight Brandon Royval on short notice in June 2025 when Kape pulled out of the bout with a broken foot. Van won a thrilling decision that night and was awarded with a Fight of the Night bonus. His career took off from there, taking the title from Alexandre Pantoja in his next fight, then successfully defending it twice in a row, including September's victory over Pantoja in a rematch.The 32-year-old Kape, who is from Angola, also has been on the rise since getting healthy, including a knockout of Royval and a stoppage of Kyoji Horiguchi in June.The No. 1 contender in the division also been calling out Van along the way."You're all going to be surprised by how easy I make this fight look," Kape posted on Twitter shortly after Van beat Pantoja for a second time.Van responded that Kape, who blew a weight cut in 2024 and is one of the biggest flyweights in the UFC, needs to focus on making weight."Start cutting now cuz u better make weight!!" Van wrote on Twitter last month. "We don't want another weight excuse. Let's give the people what they want!!!"Also at UFC 336, undefeated Michael Morales will battle Carlos Prates for the interim welterweight title with the winner earning the right to face Islam Makhachev, who has dominated the weight class for the past year but was forced to withdraw from a showdown with Prates.SubscribeThere’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Houston's Joshua Van to defend his flyweight title against Manel Kape at UFC 336 in January.