Saturday night’s UFC 331 has reached a fever pitch in the flyweight division, as champion Joshua Van of Myanmar prepares to make his second title defense against Brazilian former titleholder Alexandre Pantoja in the night’s headliner at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
The event marks the UFC’s long-awaited return to LA. It is the promotion’s first card in the city since UFC 227 in August 2018, when Henry Cejudo and TJ Dillashaw walked away with gold at the venue then known as Staples Center.
Verbal warfare ignited Thursday afternoon during the pre-fight press conference in front of an energetic crowd, as the two elite 125-pounders traded heated barbs ahead of their highly anticipated rematch.
Van (17-2 MMA) enters the bout highly confident after dethroning the division’s longtime kingpin in shocking fashion. The two met last December at UFC 323, where Van won the undisputed title in just 26 seconds after Pantoja suffered a dislocated elbow.
Now looking to erase any lingering questions surrounding their first encounter, Van made it clear he plans to repeat the result.
“Man, I can’t wait,” he told reporters. “Tune in. We’re gonna whip (Pantoja’s) ass again.”
Pantoja (30-6 MMA) aims to reclaim UFC gold and prove the ending to their first encounter was an anomaly. Having established one of the division’s most dominant championship runs prior to the freak stoppage, Pantoja brushed off any frustration and placed the onus squarely on the champion to prove the outcome wasn’t circumstantial.
“It is what it is,” Pantoja said of the injury in the first fight. “Saturday night, he has a chance to prove (it wasn’t a fluke).”
The co-main event features a pivotal lightweight contender clash between Armenian Arman Tsarukyan and surging Brazilian finisher Mauricio Ruffy.
Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA), who continues to eye undisputed lightweight championship status, didn’t hesitate to look beyond Saturday while also addressing Justin Gaethje’s win over Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 in June.
“I’m gonna send him a message after this fight,” Tsarukyan said of Gaethje, who was accused online of having foreign objects in his gloves during the summer bout. Gaethje denied the allegations.
Tsarukyan also had a heated exchange with Ruffy (14-2 MMA) about former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, whom Tsarukyan claimed “doesn’t know how to wrestle.”
“After all the storied history he’s built in the UFC … you’re gonna tell me he doesn’t know wrestling? OK, bro,” Ruffy answered, putting a punctuation mark on one of the afternoon’s most tense moments.
There was bad blood in the heavyweight division, too, between Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson (4-0 MMA) and Sean Sharaf (4-2 MMA).
Sharaf leaned into the crowd’s hostile reaction toward Steveson, who in 2019 was arrested with a University of Minnesota teammate on suspicion of sexual assault. The Hennepin County attorney’s office chose not to pursue criminal charges, citing “inadequate evidence.”
Sharaf later called Steveson “Loophole,” an apparent reference to Steveson not being charged.
Steveson, for his part, laughed off the comments and the crowd’s vitriol, appearing unfazed by his opponent’s verbal attack.
Featherweight fireworks are expected as well Saturday as former Bellator multidivision champion Patricio Pitbull of Brazil (37-9 MMA) collides with South Korean fan favorite Dooho Choi (17-4-1 MMA) in a matchup expected to deliver pure striking drama.
Opening the five-fight main card will be a light heavyweight bout between knockout artist Alonzo Menifield (18-6-1 MMA) and unbeaten Polish powerhouse Iwo Baraniewski (9-0 MMA).
Below is the full main card bout order, which is subject to change.
Main Card (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, Paramount+)
–UFC Flyweight Championship: Joshua Van (c) vs. Alexandre Pantoja
–Lightweight: Arman Tsarukyan vs. Mauricio Ruffy — five rounds
–Featherweight: Patricio Pitbull vs. Dooho Choi
–Heavyweight: Gable Steveson vs. Sean Sharaf
–Light Heavyweight: Alonzo Menifield vs. Iwo Baraniewski
–Field Level Media
