Joshua Van steps into UFC 306 vs. Edgar Chairez after Kevin Borjas withdraws

September 3, 2024 6:00 pm ET

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.

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