Edgar Chailes and Joshua Vann at the UFC 306 official weigh-in. Photo by Gabriel Gonzalez/Cageside Press
Flyweights Edgar Childes and Joshua Vann were the second pairing to face off at UFC 306 on Saturday at The Sphere in Las Vegas, making it a pretty special card for the promotion.
The night was scheduled to celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day, a tradition that began a year ago and was billed as “Noche UFC,” and was expected to be UFC’s only stop at the newly opened venue.
Childes kept Vann busy in the first round, mixing in low kicks and knees to the body. Soon, Vann’s legs began to hurt and his mobility was at least somewhat compromised. A right punch from Childes sent Vann back late in the round and Josh looked hurt, but Childes was unable to finish him off, and Vann recovered and fought back with kicks.
In the second round, Vang started to turn up the heat, hurting Childes with a hit to the body in about a minute. Vang started to attack, and Childes tried desperately to defend himself amid the flurry of attacks. Vang landed left and right punches, Childes tried to fight back, but Vang attacked him. Looping punches, more body shots, Childes looked like he was going to crumble, but a desperate spinning backfist caught Vang just before a possible TKO, and Vang retreated. The two then went to the ground, with Vang on top, but with over two minutes still left on the clock.
Vang wisely got up after regaining some composure, where he had a fair amount of success. A fierce back-and-forth ensued, with Vang adding a spinning back kick. Childes fought back, Vang went for a takedown, but Childes defended with a guillotine. He wasn’t able to finish, but he still stifled Vang’s progress, and the fight went down to the final minute with a third round looming.
The confusion died down in the third round, with both fighters briefly on the floor, but he didn’t stay there for long as Childes tried to get Vang to his feet. Vang had other ideas, however, and scored another takedown. Vang had to fight off a triangle choke, but with a minute left, time was an issue. In a closely fought round, Vang landed some solid ground strikes. With under 30 seconds left, Vang transitioned to half guard, fought to the body and head, and finished the bout on top.
Official result: Joshua Vann defeats Edgar Chailes by unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)
