3 Asians see action in UFC Fight Night

MANILA, Philippines – If Filipino-American mixed martial arts fighter Punahele Soriano weren’t injured, this UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Topuria would have had four Asians in the bill.

Nevertheless, there are three Asians, and they present interesting cards when the UFC makes its visit to the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on June 24 (11:30 p.m., Manila time that leads up to the next day, Sunday).  

An interesting bout in the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Topuria features two Asians in Kazakh Zhalgas Zhumagulov (14-8-0) and Myanmar’s first-ever UFC fighter Joshua Van (7-1-0).

The flyweight bout is scheduled for three rounds and is slated for the final match before the main cards.

The 21-year-old Van was born in Burma but moved to the United States when he was 11 years old.  Nicknamed “The Fearless”, he is coming off a five-match win streak in Fury FC. All his professional and amateur fights have come in a two-year period as Van got into mixed martial arts when he was only 18 years of age. That is testament to his taking little damage and his being very active inside the cage.

“The main goal is getting to the UFC and to get to the UFC you’ve got to fight whenever they call you,” said Van of this opportunity. “I’m just staying ready. It’s not that I want to fight less when I’m in the UFC. Just the most fights you can get in the UFC is like six or seven. Eventually I think I’ll have to slow down but if they can get me a fight every month in the UFC I’m going to fight every month.”

First, he has to impress the UFC brass against Zhumagulov, who is 13-years older with 22 matches under his belt. Unfortunately for the Kazakh, he is 1-5 in the UFC since coming over from Fight Nights Global with four of the defeats coming via decision. 

Aside from Zhumagulov and Van, there is one more Asian in this UFC Fight Night card — Japanese fighter Tatsuro Taira (13-0-0, 3-0 in the UFC), who will engage Brazilian Kleydson Rodrigues (8-2-0, 1-1 in the UFC).

Taira is a submission specialist who will go up against Rodrigues, who has taken home the win mostly via his striking. 

The card be shown live in the Philippines via the Premier Sports Channel on Skycable and Cignal as well as on the TapGo TV streaming application.