UFC 306 has a new flyweight matchup.
On Tuesday, news broke that Kevin Borjas is out of his scheduled fight at UFC 306. Instead, Edgar Chairez now faces Joshua Van, who steps in as a short-notice replacement. The switch was first reported by MMA Junkie and later confirmed by MMA Fighting.
One of eight Mexican fighters competing at the event branded “Noche UFC,” Chairez also competed on the original Noche UFC last year, where his bout with Daniel Lacerda resulted in a no contest following an error by referee Chris Tognoni. The two rematched earlier this year at UFC Mexico City, with Chairez pulling off a first-round submission.
Still only 22 years old, Van suffered the first loss of his UFC career when he was knocked out by Charles Johnson at UFC Denver in July. That defeat ended a three-fight win streak in the promotion, and now “Fearless” looks to get back on track at an event UFC CEO Dana White claims will be “the greatest live sporting event of all-time.”
UFC 306 takes place on September 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas and will be headlined by a bantamweight title fight between Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, while a women’s flyweight championship trilogy matchup between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko serves as the co-main event.
Mike Heck contributed to this report.
