Athletes
Joshua Van | Keeping Things Simple
Flyweight Joshua Van Looks To Make It Four Wins In A Row And Keep His Momentum As He Faces Off Against Bruno Silva At UFC 316: Dvalishvili vs O'Malley 2 On June 7
Joshua Van likes to keep things simple. For example, this weekend he’ll be traveling across the country from his home in Houston to fight Bruno Silva at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, but if a second trip to the east coast, where he defeated Kevin Borjas in New York City in 2023, has him superstitious in a good way, it doesn’t.
“Just send me the contract,” he said. “I sign it, and then we fight.”
In other words, it doesn’t matter to the 14th-ranked flyweight where he fights, as long as he gets that call. And though a UFC fight in Houston someday would be ideal, don’t expect him to give you directions to Toyota Center.
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“I’ve never seen Toyota Center,” he laughs.
So no Rockets games?
“I don't watch no other sport,” he adds.
That purity of tunnel vision has gotten Van to where he is at the age of 23. And even though that’s an age where most fighters are getting their feet wet and figuring out their path to the UFC, the Myanmar native is already here and plotting bigger things. So when his March fight with Silva was postponed, Van jumped right into a matchup with late replacement Rei Tsuruya, won that, and then started looking as far up the 125-pound ladder as he could. That led him back to the number 12-ranked Brazilian.
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“I'm trying to get to that title as fast as I can,” Van said, and though a victory over Silva won’t get him there, it will mean a four-fight winning streak and one step closer to his ultimate goal. And yes, it’s been a seven-fight whirlwind since his Octagon debut just two years ago, but he’s finally getting to a point where he can take everything in and start enjoying his success.
“I learned to enjoy it a little bit more now,” he said. “Between fight camps, I travel a little bit, have fun with some friends and stuff like that. So I learned to slow down. And this fight camp has been perfect for me. Every fight camp, we enjoy it more and more now that I’m taking more rest and stuff like that. So yeah, I'm enjoying it right now.”
It’s hard to believe that Van’s head coach – UFC vet Daniel Pineda – is mellowing out in retirement.
“Hell no,” Van laughs. “He never takes it easy on us, but he tells me to take some time off and stuff like that sometimes because I work out three times a day. So sometimes you overtrain, and now we don't want to do that no more, especially at this higher level of fighting. We work hard, but we don't work three times a day no more.”
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Only two-and-a-half?
“Yeah,” he laughs. “Only two-and-a-half, sometimes four.”
Van is clearly embracing (and enjoying) the grind, something necessary for success in this toughest of sports. In MMA, you’re either all-in or all-out. There’s no middle ground. And Van is all-in, willing to make all the sacrifices necessary to become a world champion, even if it means living a life that a “normal” 23-year-old isn’t.
“We don't live like 23-year-olds are supposed to live,” he said. “We give up a lot of fun and stuff like that, but I gained everything. Now I'm in a position where I have most of the things I wanted. So, after this fight, I'm going to buy my mom a house. And that’s worth everything that I sacrificed for, so I feel like everything is worth it. Without UFC and without this fighting career, I would be nobody really, because education wise, I'm not in the position where I should get a good job or anything. So fighting really changed my life. So I'm willing to sacrifice everything else.”
Joshua Van likes to keep things simple. And simple is best.
UFC 316: Dvalishvili vs O'Malley 2 took place live from Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on June 7, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!