Kavanagh Picks Van Over Kape and Offers to Be Backup

Lone'er Kavanagh is leaning toward Joshua Van in the flyweight champion's title defense against Manel Kape. He also says he is open to serving as a backup for the fight.

Van will put his UFC flyweight belt on the line against Kape at UFC 336 on Jan. 30 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Kavanagh said he is excited to watch two strikers meet, but that it is hard to pick against the reigning champion.

He gave his reasons in an interview with Ariel Helwani. Kavanagh pointed to the dominant showing by Van, nicknamed "The Fearless," against Alexandre Pantoja. In his words, Van has now proved himself against Pantoja twice.

"As a fan, it's gonna be an exciting one to watch. They're both high-level strikers... You can't really bet against Joshua Van anymore. He's proved himself against Pantoja twice. So maybe [I'm leaning] towards Van... I was surprised. He had an answer for everything that Pantoja threw at him."

Flyweight in the spotlight

Kavanagh had more praise for the champion. He said he has been blown away with what Van has done, and that the champion's output is amazing and fun to watch. In his view, flyweight is the most exciting division in the UFC right now: "I'm gonna say the flyweight division is the most exciting division there is right now." Kavanagh's comments were posted on October 26, 2026.

The English flyweight stopped Ramazonbek Temirov with a first-round technical knockout at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. After that win he called for the winner of Van vs. Kape.

In the same interview, Kavanagh said he would be open to stepping in as a backup for the UFC 336 headliner.

Source: Sherdog