Preview: UFC 310 Prelims

Flyweights

Joshua Van (11-2, 4-1 UFC) vs. #14 FLW | Cody Durden (17-6-1, 6-4-1 UFC)

ODDS: Van (-155), Durden (+130)

Van remains one of the top prospects on the UFC roster, but there’s some cause for concern that his road to contention might be a bit bumpier than expected. Van made it to the UFC in 2023, less than two years removed from his professional debut, but he was a talent clearly worth jumping on early. An aggressive striker by trade, Van was running through his opposition while adding new tools to his toolkit every time out, including developing an effective wrestling game from scratch somewhere along the way. Once he hit the Octagon, Van did nothing to dull his hype through the end of the calendar year, outworking a solid vet in Zhalgas Zhumagulov before winning a war over Kevin Borjas to close out 2023. Van’s UFC career has been marked by a willingness to step in on late notice, which he did to beat Felipe Bunes in January. That resulted in a frustrating first half of 2024. Van was constantly getting some interesting matchups, only for issues outside of his control to wind up scrapping four separate fights. Van eventually wound up facing Charles Johnson in July, but that surprisingly ended in the first knockout loss of his young career. It was going in typical Van fashion, with him overcoming his slow starts through constant aggression, but just as he looked to be turning the corner late in the fight, Johnson clocked him with an uppercut to end their encounter early in the third round. That result hasn’t seemed to slow down Van in any aspect. He was back fighting Edgar Chairez just two months later, and ate plenty of offense with his hard-charging style, earning another win that might have been a bit harder than expected. Van should be fine in the long run, but there’s the sense that he’s going to constantly put himself in more danger than necessary, which makes things interesting against Durden.

Durden apparently saved his UFC career by stepping in on late notice to beat Matt Schnell in September, which was a bit of a surprise. Durden was coming off two straight losses, but he has been an underrated fighter since the UFC picked him up in 2020. He came to the promotion with about the game you would expect from someone who crushed a weak level of competition to get there. Durden fights with an aggression that borders on overconfidence, particularly thanks to a lack of defensive awareness that has constantly gotten him into trouble. When things are fully clicking for Durden, he can serve as a smothering wrestler with some sneaky knockout power, but nearly all of his losses in the UFC have seen him charge directly into danger, usually in the form of a submission. That doesn’t figure to be the case here, but both men should be willing to engage in an entertaining brawl that feels a lot more dangerous for Durden over the long haul. Van is a slow starter who once again will probably take more damage than he needs to, but assuming he turns the corner somewhere in the second round, his ability to strike in combination and mix up his targets should eventually result in him landing something hard. The pick is Van via third-round knockout.

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