The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced the main card for UFC 331, scheduled to take place Sept. 19 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The flyweight title will be on the line in the main event as defending champion Joshua Van faces off against former titleholder Alexandre Pantoja in a rematch of their previous encounter.
Van, a 24-year-old from Myanmar with a record of 17-2, won the 125-pound title last December when he defeated the 36-year-old Pantoja (30-5) by first-round TKO after just 26 seconds due to an arm injury suffered by the Brazilian fighter. Van has since defended his title once, stopping Tatsuro Taira via fifth-round TKO in May in a bout considered a candidate for fight of the year.
The co-main event will feature a five-round lightweight contest between No. 2-ranked Arman Tsarukyan and No. 7-ranked Mauricio Ruffy. Tsarukyan, a 29-year-old Armenian fighter from Georgia, returns to Los Angeles action for the first time since he withdrew from a lightweight title rematch against Islam Makhachev one day before UFC 311 in January 2025 due to a back injury sustained during weight-cutting. Ruffy, a 30-year-old Brazilian fighter with a 14-2 record, is undefeated at 5-1 since making his UFC debut in 2024.
The event will also include additional notable matchups featuring heavyweight prospect and 2020 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson against Sean Sharaf, a rematch between Renato Moicano and Brian Ortega at lightweight, and a featherweight bout between Patricio “Pitbull” Cruz and Dooho Choi.
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