Dana White left no stone unturned to hype up UFC 306. The fight between Joshua Van and Edgar Chairez was proof that the UFC head honcho wasn’t wrong to do so. Van went on to dominate the Octagon and defeat Chairez via a unanimous decision. Despite getting called in with just a few weeks, he didn’t fail to impress the world with a win. The world even began considering the fight as ‘Fight of the Year’.

During the post-fight press conference, Van revealed what went through his mind as the UFC gave him a call to fight on short notice. Let’s take a look at  what the mixed martial artist said.

Joshua Van reveals the story of how he got the call to fight Edgar Chairez for UFC 306

Right after his fight at Noche UFC, Van revealed that he was “at the bar taking shots” when he got the call from the UFC about the fight. Even though it was just a couple of weeks away, Van showed his fearlessness and took up the fight. He continued, “I was coming to take a break for 2 months of so. You know, I was enjoying my best, my best life, and you know, the call came in 2 weeks’ notice. And we took the fight. And like, this week is good experience for me, man. I love it.”

A reporter sent forth a question to the fighter and asked for his opinion on the Sphere. However, it felt just like another UFC fight to him, even though the hype around the venue was pretty high. After all, the UFC head honcho did his absolute best to raise the fight fans’ entropy. But Van said, “I feel normal. You know what I mean? But the hype around it was real, man. I’m not gonna lie. It was real.” 

But the shocker came when a reporter asked him about his plans for the future. Without wasting a single moment, ‘The Fearless’ asked for Cody Durden as his next opponent. He answered, “I want that boy, Cody. Cody Durden. I wanna fight that boy. I was in Myanmar, I was from Myanmar, I was raised by this Mexican, and we hate lazy people. So, I don’t like that lazy boy.”

‘The Fearless’ had a similar mindset about getting to fight on short notice days before the fight. Talking to the UFC, he revealed that fighting on short notice was indeed a tough job. However, everything normalizes right after the training begins and the schedules fit into place. But did you know that the Myanmar native considered himself a Mexican? 

‘The Fearless’ claims to be a Mexican fighter

Weighing in on the chance to get to fight at the Sphere and celebrate Mexican Independence Day, the fighter from Myanmar claimed that he wouldn’t be considered as the ‘bad guy’. Why? Because he had links to the North American country. Van laughed about it and said, “I’m Mexican myself. I got here when I was 12 and I’m about to be 23, so I’ve been with Mexicans for almost half my life and they see me as a Mexican, too. So I don’t see myself as the bad guy.” 

Van doesn’t have the documents to prove his Mexican roots, but he did so with his fighting prowess. He continued, “Growing up with Mexicans, it put me in that same mentality that they got. And shout out to my coaches, who ain’t nothing but Mexican. So I adapt to their style very quick and I like the aggressiveness that they got going on. I like their pressure and all that, so I just put that to my style, man.”

Nevertheless, Van didn’t fail to execute it all during his fight against Chairez. With his Mexican mentality, he gracefully defeated his opponent and earned the fighting community’s utmost respect.