UFC's Van fights for title, Myanmar plight awareness

Each time Joshua "The Fearless" Van steps into the Octagon, the mixed martial arts (MMA) athlete is fighting for more than himself.

- Deepanraj Ganesan

The 23-year-old hails from Myanmar's Chin State, the mountainous western region bordering Bangladesh and India, where clashes continue between resistance forces and the military, which seized power from an elected government in a 2021 coup.

And as he battles his way up the rungs of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Van, the only Myanmar-born fighter on the promotion's roster, hopes that "the bigger I get, the more they all know about Myanmar", as he wants to raise awareness about the struggles back home.

He will get his chance to do that soon.

On June 28, in front of a sold-out crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Van made history by defeating the UFC's then No. 1 ranked flyweight Brandon Royval by unanimous decision to earn the right to be the next challenger for the UFC flyweight title, held by Alexandre Pantoja of Brazil.

He will be the first South-east Asian-born fighter to challenge for a UFC belt.

After stepping up as a replacement for the injured Manel Kape with less than three weeks' notice, Van's win made the MMA world sit up and take notice of the flyweight sensation.