Joshua Van has noticed some differences in his life situation with his recent UFC successes but is still staying grounded and focused on the task at hand. Van prepares to do battle with Brandon Royval at UFC 317 on Saturday night in Las Vegas as part of this year’s Internationalol Fight Week offering.
Speaking to assembled reporters at the fight week media day while addressing his UFC journey that has seen him perform on several massive numbered events, Van said,
“Life has been great. Back in training camp, things like that—I love staying active. So yeah, life has been great. Outside of fighting, I don’t really know yet how life has changed for me because I’m back in camp already. I don’t really go outside like that. Maybe after this fight, I’ll feel the difference. The cameras are following me to church, following me around for Embedded. I saw you yesterday doing stuff with ESPN. So, yeah, it’s been different, but I’m still focused on the fight.”
Joshua Van vs. Brandon Royval and the presence of the flyweight champ at UFC 317
The main card matchup has big implications for how the future of the flyweight divison looks with Joshua Van entering this fight as the number twelve contender against the number one ranked flyweight fighter in Brandon Royval. This is intriguing to note especially in a division that is starving for a next contender as well as the fact that the flyweight title will also be contested for on June 28th.
In the UFC 317 co-main-event, Alexandre Pantoja will look to defend his strap against a former oponent of his on The Ultimate Fighter in Kai Kara-France. With Van entering the cage on the heels of a third round knockout earlier this month at UFC 316 and the general state of the flyweight contender landscape, if Van were to get a statement win over the division’s top ranked contender it could pay dividends in his pursuit of being the person to fill that title challenger gap that seems to be there at flyweight post-UFC 317.
