Brett OkamotoMay 6, 2026, 10:00 AM ETCloseBrett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: “Chuck and Tito,” which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.Follow on XMultiple Authors
Two days after winning the UFC’s flyweight championship in December, Joshua Van stood at his father’s grave in Houston. It was his first visit since December 2022, when he won a regional title with Fury Fighting Championship.
“I will go to the cemetery with my mom, but I usually stay in the car,” Van told ESPN. “I only go in when I accomplish something big. I was nothing but a disappointment when he was alive, you know what I mean?”
Van (16-2) looks to defend his 125-pound championship against Tatsuro Taira (18-1) at UFC 328 on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey. The 24-year-old has amassed a 9-1 record in less than three years in the UFC and last year became the second-youngest champion in UFC history behind Jon Jones, who first held a title at 23. Van is at the top of his game but is still a man motivated by his past.
Van was born and spent his formative years in Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country that has endured decades of civil conflict and instability. His father was absent the majority of Van’s childhood, searching for opportunities to move his family out of Myanmar. When Van was 9 years old, he was separated from his father and two of his sisters, as he waited to join them at a refugee camp his father found in Malaysia.
Van’s family migrated to Houston when he was 12, and the adjustment to a new culture and a new environment was hard. He was teased because he struggled to speak and understand English when he first arrived, and he would constantly get into fights. His parents relocated the family numerous times in the hopes that Van would find peace, but the fights escalated instead. Eventually, Van found himself in a situation that forced him to move out of Houston altogether.
Van went to live with family members in Iowa, where he continued to get into trouble. His aunt, concerned with her nephew’s trajectory, challenged him to fight for the pride of his country and his family, rather than for himself in the streets. Soon after, Van moved back to Houston, where he found an MMA gym and dedicated himself to training. From there, his path began to change.
Van’s father died when Van was 16, so he wasn’t there to witness his son’s amateur debut at 19 years old in 2020. Fewer than three years later, Van had fought his way to a UFC contract.
With his aunt’s words still in his heart, Van couldn’t wait to represent Myanmar on MMA’s largest stage, but when he debuted in July 2023, UFC fighters were barred from carrying national flags to the Octagon due to escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Even after the ban was lifted in October 2023, the UFC denied Van’s next five requests to walk out with the Myanmar flag.
The future is bright and limitless — and between representing his humble beginnings and making amends to his late father, who never got to see him fight, the past will continue to motivate.
Myanmar is a politically troubled region with a long history of conflict between military control and rebel groups. A 2021 military coup thrust the country into ongoing civil war. Whether the war was a reason for the initial denial, Van kept pushing the UFC and CEO Dana White to reconsider their decision to disallow the flag, and in 2025, they did. Van represented Myanmar four times last year in one of the greatest breakout campaigns in recent memory. He capped it off in December by defeating longtime champion Alexandre Pantoja, who suffered an arm injury during an awkward fall in the first round.
Brett OkamotoMay 6, 2026, 10:00 AM ETCloseBrett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: “Chuck and Tito,” which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseBrett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: “Chuck and Tito,” which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.Follow on X
“I don’t know if he can be proud of me now,” Van said. “But I hope he is.”