Athletes
Joshua Van: "I Got Work To Do"
"The Fearless" Joshua Van Isn't Letting A Few Canceled Fights Distract Him From His Goals
I won’t call Joshua Van the superstitious type, but he may avoid walking under ladders and letting black cats cross his path in the lead-up to his Saturday bout against Charles Johnson.
“The way it’s going right now, it's 50-50, unless we’re in the Octagon,” said Van, who has seen four fights go by the wayside since his January win over Felipe Bunes. “But, at the same time, I got my coaches and my teammates that helped me stay focused. But I'm kind of iffy about it.”
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You can’t blame him. A week after Van halted Bunes to improve to 3-0 in the UFC, he was asking for a fight. Four proposed bouts with Lucas Rocha, Sumudaerji, Tatsuro Taira and Tagir Ulanbekov followed, but all were scrapped for one reason or another.
“I never thought finding a fight would be this hard,” he said. “It’s been six months I haven't fought. I want to stay active. I want to fight six times this year. So, man, this thing is really driving me crazy.”
It could have been the recipe for a young fighter to get distracted, frustrated and go off the rails, but the 22-year-old Van stayed the course, avoiding the risk of peaking too soon.
“The way I'm training has always been the same,” Van said. “Then the two weeks before we pick it up. You know how people, when they don't have a fight, they barely train and then when they have a fight, they pick it up zero to a hundred. It's not like that with me. We stay consistent with it.”
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That’s the physical part. As for the mental, Van looks to his head coach, fellow UFC fighter Daniel Pineda, who has seen everything in this game twice.
“He just tells me to stay ready,” said Van. “Especially when they canceled the first time in June. He was like, ‘Just stay ready, they might call you short notice.’ It was basically him and Frank (Gallego) telling me to stay training and keep my head focused. At one point in time got to the point where I really wanted to retire and find a job. And he was like, ‘You know what? These things happen. You gotta be patient.’ He was telling me all this stuff that really helped me.”
Pineda travels to England to face Nathaniel Wood on July 27. Van is expecting to get in his work before then, and his focus is strong. He was even doing interviews on the July 4th holiday, taking care of business while his peers were partying.
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“I just stay at home chilling,” he laughs. “I don't really enjoy much. This is the sacrifice that we got to make. And a lot of people are not willing to make this sacrifice. So that's what's going to make a difference. I got something better to do.”
That something better is winning a world title and leaving a mark on the hardest sport. It makes all the sense in the world to Van, but not always to his friends.
“Sometimes they bitch about it,” he said. “They say, ‘You ain't never show up nowhere.’ Hey, when I retire, I'll enjoy it. But as of right now, I got work to do.”
And he wants plenty of it, hoping to get in three more fights in 2024. And not just any fights, but big ones.
“Hopefully this guy (Johnson) comes through and then after I win this one, I'm going to fight again, and then again in maybe November or December. So I'm going to get in at least four this year. Most importantly, I think the UFC recognizes that I always want to show up every time. They noticed what type of person I am and that I'm a company man. So I think I win this fight, it's going to be a big fight coming soon.”
UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs Cortez took place live from Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on July 13, 2024. See the Final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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