UFC cutman Brad Tate has shared a very interesting story about his first meeting with Joshua Van.
Van, the current UFC flyweight champion, most recently secured the first defense of his title with a fifth-round TKO victory this past weekend over Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328.
He is expected to run it back with the legendary Alexandre Pantoja next.
Brad Tate reveals how nervous Joshua Van was before UFC debut in 2023
During an interview with Engage, UFC cutman Brad Tate told viewers that he met Joshua Van in the elevator before the latter’s first UFC fight. Van made his UFC debut in 2023 against Zhalgas Zhumagulov and won by split decision.
As per Tate, Van was not always calm and composed as he is now, before his fights. When “The Fearless” entered the UFC, he was super stressed out before his first outing and had to be hyped up by his peers before he entered the octagon for his debut. Tate said:
“So I met this guy in the elevator. Short-notice fight. He was nervous as h*ll. He kept saying, ‘Man, I don’t know if I belong here.’ We had to talk to him and hype him up. Then he shows up at the arena for the first fight of the night. Nobody was even there yet. The dude was nervous as h*ll. I told him, ‘Bro, calm down. You got this. Flip that switch, you know?’ ‘I don’t believe I should be here.’ His hands were literally shaking, and he was sweating like crazy. Then they go out there for the first fight, and the dude he was facing wasn’t feeling well.”
Check out Brad Tate’s comments about Joshua Van below: