Joshua Van was born in Hakha, a small mountain town in Chin State, Myanmar, to supportive parents who always had his back at all times.
The MMA fighter has kept details about them, including their names, away from the media; nonetheless, he occasionally talks about them in public.
Reportedly, his parents saw no good future for the kids if they stayed in Myanmar. For Joshua and his siblings’ bright future, they left Myanmar and moved to Malaysia in 2011.
Again, three years later, they came to America and settled in Houston, Texas. New country. Both of his parents worked lengthy hours so the kids could go to school and have a chance.
However, in 2017, everything changed in a split second when his father passed away. Joshua was just 16 years.
The sudden passing of his father hit the entire family deeply. In fact, Joshua still gets quiet when he talks about it.
After one of his UFC wins in 2023, he looked straight at the camera and said,
This one’s for my dad.
Despite his father’s absence, Joshua never felt alone, for his mother never stopped believing in him.
She raised him and his siblings as a single mother and did everything in her power to help them.
After his father’s passing, Joshua has been living with his mother in Houston.
He trains all day, has fights across the globe, but he comes home to the same house and eats dinner with his mother whenever he can.
Without any hesitation, Joshua, living with his mother, said:
I have to. I gotta take care of her. Without her, I would have never been here.
Joshua
In June 2025, after he beat Brandon Royval and made good money, Joshua did something a lot of Burmese kids dream about. He bought his mom a new house.
The video of him surprising his mother with a new house made grand rounds online.
With his growing career, Joshua is making his parents proud with every achievement.
In Case You Didn’t Know
- Joshua signed as the first Burmese in the UFC.
- He quickly went from 4-0 as an amateur in 2020 to a pro in 2021 and racked up 17 fights in under four years. Now 15-2 overall, with an 8-1 UFC record after debuting in 2023.
