Joshua Van has raised his hand once again. But this time as a result, he’ll fight in potential once-in-a-lifetime UFC venue at Sphere in Las Vegas.
With Kevin Borjas off the Sept. 14 card for undisclosed reasons, Van (10-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) steps in to face Edgar Chairez (11-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a flyweight undercard bout at UFC 306.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the change but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
The change is the first one the UFC 306 card at Sphere has encountered. The card is set to be the promotion’s annual Noche UFC event, a tribute to Mexican Independence Day.
Van has remained incredibly active since his amateur debut in December 2020. The fight will mark his 18th over that 46-month period. Van signed with the UFC in 2023 and quickly racked up wins over Zhalgas Zhumagulov, Kevin Borjas, and Felipe Bunes. In July, Van was finished with strikes by Charles Johnson for his first UFC loss.
Chairez has had mixed results in the UFC. After a loss to Tatsuro Taira in his promotional debut, Chairez fought Daniel Lacerda in back-to-back fights. The first was a no contest due to a premature stoppage. Chairez won the rematch by first-round triangle choke submission.
The updated UFC 306 fight card includes:
- Champ Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili – for bantamweight title
- Champ Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko – for women’s flyweight title
- Diego Lopes vs. Brian Ortega
- Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber
- Ode Osbourne vs. Ronaldo Rodriguez
- Irene Aldana vs. Norma Dumont
- Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Manuel Torres
- Yazmin Jauregui vs. Ketlen Souza
- Edgar Chairez vs. Joshua Van
- Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Aori Qileng
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 306.
