UFC 331: Bad Blood and Unfinished Business in Los Angeles
UFC 331 lands in Los Angeles on Saturday with a main event that still doesn’t feel settled. Joshua Van walks in as flyweight champion. Alexandre Pantoja walks in convinced that belt is only on loan.
Their first meeting barely started. Twenty-six seconds in, Pantoja’s elbow gave out and Van left with the title. No real exchanges. No questions answered. Just a freak injury and a belt changing hands.
Now the rematch carries a different edge. Van, just 24, wants to prove he’s more than the beneficiary of a medical mishap. Pantoja, 36, wants to prove he didn’t lose his crown so much as misplace it.
There’s respect between them, but it’s thin. Both know the other believes he’s the rightful champion. That tension has simmered into something close to genuine animosity.
Van’s first defense in May against Tatsuro Taira showed why the UFC has fast-tracked him. He had to adjust mid-fight, had to dig out of bad spots, and still found a finish in a five-round war. It was the kind of performance that hardens a young champion.
Pantoja, though, brings something Van hasn’t yet seen over 25 minutes: a fully formed, championship-level game honed over years at the top. He’s deeper technically, richer in experience, and he’s already proved once in his career that late primes can be better than early promise. The Brazilian reshaped himself after finally winning the flyweight title; he became sharper, calmer, more ruthless.
Now he returns as the underdog, carrying the weight of a veteran who knows there aren’t many more shots coming. His path is clear: survive the early chaos, drag Van into deeper, dirtier waters, and reclaim a belt he doesn’t believe he truly lost.
Van’s path is just as simple: start fast, keep it standing, and let youth, speed and volume crack an aging champion coming off injury.
The oddsmakers lean slightly toward the present. A large part of the MMA world still wonders if Saturday night belongs to the past.
Tsarukyan’s long road back to gold
The co-main event could decide the next lightweight title challenger.
Arman Tsarukyan was already there once. He had a date with Islam Makhachev lined up for January 2025 in Los Angeles. Then a brutal weight-cut injury ripped the chance away. The title shot vanished. The division moved on.
More than 20 months later, he’s back in the same city, one step away again. This time the obstacle is Mauricio Ruffy, a dangerous, surging contender who has lit up 2025 with two thrilling wins.
Ruffy can crack. He kicks hard, he pushes pace, and he carries the kind of chaos that can flip a fight in a heartbeat. But his flaws are no secret. Benoit Saint Denis exposed them last year, mauling him on the mat and showing just how vulnerable he can be against elite grapplers.
That’s where Tsarukyan lives.
He’s taken down almost everyone he has faced, including Makhachev in his UFC debut. He doesn’t bring the same instant submission threat that Saint Denis does, but his pressure, cardio and positional control are suffocating. Ruffy’s fondness for kicks may hand Tsarukyan easy entries to takedowns; if that happens early and often, the Brazilian could be in for a long, grinding night.
Tsarukyan knows what’s at stake. A clear stoppage win, and it’s hard to deny him the title shot that slipped away. Ruffy, sharpened by work with Alexander Volkanovski, is banking on having closed enough of the gap to keep the fight standing and test Tsarukyan’s chin and composure.
The CBS Sports panel largely sees the same picture: Tsarukyan imposing his wrestling, wearing Ruffy down, and finding a finish in the later rounds.
If he does, the lightweight title conversation suddenly looks very familiar.
Choi vs. Pitbull: fireworks with a ticking clock
On paper, Dooho Choi vs. Patricio Pitbull looks like chaos in a cage.
Choi’s career once seemed to have stalled out after three straight losses. The “Korean Superboy” looked like another promising talent burned out by wars. Then he flipped the script. Four fights unbeaten. Three straight TKOs. The power never left; the maturity finally arrived.
Across from him stands a legend whose résumé needs no dressing up. Pitbull is one of Bellator’s greatest ever, a two-division champion who has spent years fighting at the sharp end of the sport. But time has caught up. At 39, with miles on his body and brutal fights behind him — including a savage beating from Aaron Pico — the question isn’t whether he still has skills. It’s how long his body can keep pace with his mind.
Pitbull’s grappling remains his clearest advantage. If he can turn this into a clinch-heavy, takedown-driven fight, he can still bank rounds and slow the tempo. The problem? Choi thrives in storms. He walks through fire, throws in combination, and carries real finishing power late.
Analysts expect a wild one. Campbell and Mahjouri both lean toward Choi, banking on youth, durability and pressure to eventually overwhelm an aging great who may shine in moments but struggle to hold back the tide for three full rounds.
This is the kind of matchup that doesn’t often go the distance. It’s also the kind that can close the book on one era while flinging the door open for another.
Heavyweight intrigue and a gold medal on the rise
Further down the card, the spotlight briefly shifts to a different kind of pedigree.
Gable Steveson, an Olympic gold medalist, continues his transition into MMA against fellow prospect Sean Sharaf. The odds tell the story: Steveson enters as a massive favorite, his wrestling credentials dwarfing almost anyone he’ll face at this stage. The CBS Sports crew is unanimous — they all expect an early finish, whether by submission or ground-and-pound.
At light heavyweight, Iwo Baraniewski and Alonzo Menifield promise violence from the opening horn. Every expert on the panel has Baraniewski winning by stoppage in the first round. Given Menifield’s power and willingness to trade, this one may not need judges.
The main card opener sets the tone. The main event decides a throne.
Van wants to slam the door on doubt and start a true reign. Pantoja wants to prove that the division still runs through him. One man walks out of Los Angeles as champion.
The other walks out knowing his window just slammed shut.
