Joshua Van Retains Flyweight Title at UFC 331

Joshua Van goes the distance, keeps his crown, and leaves Los Angeles with something far more valuable than another line on his record: a defining win.

Van outlasts Pantoja in flyweight classic

The first meeting ended with an injury. This one ended with no doubts.

Joshua Van retained his UFC flyweight title with a unanimous decision over Alexandre Pantoja in a brutal, breathless 25‑minute war at UFC 331 inside Crypto.com Arena. The judges had it 49-46, 49-47, and 50-45, numbers that barely capture how hard both men had to dig.

Pantoja came out like a man trying to rewrite history in one round. He stepped into range early, mixed sharp punches with clean takedowns, and forced Van to backpedal. The Brazilian champion of old reappeared in flashes: pressure, variety, relentlessness.

Van did what Van always does. He started slow, read the patterns, and refused to panic.

The fight turned in the second. Pantoja cracked Van with a heavy shot that left the champion on shaky legs. As Van tried to recover, the two collided heads in a clash that immediately sparked fury. Pantoja demanded a point deduction from Herb Dean; Dean waved it off as accidental and ordered them to fight on.

From there, the tide began to turn.

Pantoja kept chasing takedowns, but Van’s responses grew sharper. The champion began stitching together hard combinations, carving up Pantoja’s face and forcing the challenger to pay for every entry. The cuts widened, the pace stayed cruel, and the scorecards slowly tilted toward Myanmar’s first UFC champion.

By the fifth, the cost of that pace showed. Pantoja’s feet were heavy, his shots labored. Van, still surging, found another gear. He dropped Pantoja and nearly closed the show with a keylock, wrenching on the arm as the crowd roared. Pantoja scrambled free, but the message was clear: the belt wasn’t going anywhere.

Van closed strong, sealed his second title defense, and walked out of Los Angeles as a champion who has now beaten Pantoja twice—once by misfortune, this time by force.

Tsarukyan makes his statement with seconds to spare

The lightweight division received its answer.

Told before UFC 331 that a win could launch him back into a title shot, Arman Tsarukyan didn’t need five rounds against Mauricio Ruffy. He barely needed one.

Ruffy’s early takedown defense looked sharp. He stuffed attempts, kept the fight standing in spots, and forced Tsarukyan to work. For a few minutes, it felt like the Brazilian might drag the contender into a tricky, tactical battle.

Then Tsarukyan took over.

As the first round wound down, he broke Ruffy’s resistance with a savage burst of elbows. Two brutal shots landed clean, and Ruffy crumpled to the canvas at 4:56 of the opening frame. No debate, no controversy. Just a ruthless finish from a man who has been shouting for a title opportunity with his performances.

After this, the question of whether he’s earned another shot at gold barely feels like a question at all.

Patricio Pitbull brings Bellator bite to the Octagon

Patricio Pitbull has arrived properly.

The former Bellator champion produced his first UFC finish with a vintage display against fan favorite DooHo Choi. From the opening bell, Pitbull marched forward and refused to give Choi the space he needs to set his rhythm.

Choi couldn’t cope with the pressure or the power.

A thudding right hand detonated on Choi’s chin and sent him crashing to the canvas. Pitbull followed with relentless ground-and-pound, forcing the stoppage at 3:28 of the first round. It was clinical, violent, and a reminder that his name still carries real weight—no matter the promotion.

An aging star on paper. A live problem for the featherweight roster in reality.

Sharaf detonates the heavyweight hype train

Twelve seconds. That’s all it took for Sean Sharaf to flip the heavyweight script.

Gable Steveson walked into UFC 331 as the division’s most hyped prospect, a massive betting favorite, and the supposed next big thing at heavyweight. Sharaf walked in as the man expected to lose.

He left as the man who landed the perfect punch.

In the opening exchange, Sharaf found Steveson’s chin, dropped him hard, and swarmed with ground-and-pound until the referee stepped in. Official time: 0:12 of round one. His first UFC win in three fights, and one of the most stunning upsets of the year.

Steveson’s rise pauses abruptly. Sharaf’s career just caught fire.

Vera refuses to fall out of the rankings

Marlon Vera arrived in Los Angeles fighting for more than a paycheck. Four straight losses had him clinging to his bantamweight top‑15 spot. Across from him stood Charles Jourdain, riding three consecutive wins and hungry for a number next to his name.

Vera fought like a man who’d had enough of losing.

Sharper, faster, and meaner on the feet, the Ecuadorian repeatedly beat Jourdain to the punch. He dropped him once. Then again. Then a third time. After that third knockdown in the third round, Jourdain had seen enough and signaled for the referee to stop it at 2:02.

No late rally. No debate. Just a necessary, emphatic TKO that keeps Vera anchored in the rankings and gives him a lifeline in one of the UFC’s deepest divisions.

O’Neill turns the tables in an instant

For most of the first round, Casey O’Neill looked like she was in serious trouble.

Eduarda Moura drove straight to her game plan, hit the takedown early, and smothered O’Neill on the mat. At one point, Moura locked in a tight d’arce choke that seemed close to ending the fight. O’Neill survived, but the round felt like it was slipping away.

Then came the flip—literally.

Just past the three‑minute mark, O’Neill exploded from bottom, elevating Moura and rolling her over. In the scramble, she snatched an arm, extended, and Moura tapped almost instantly. Officially, a first‑round armbar at 3:22. In reality, a wild, whiplash turnaround that swung from near-defeat to submission victory in seconds.

Three straight wins for O’Neill, and a reminder that one mistake on the mat is all she needs.

UFC 331: Official results

• Main Card
• Joshua Van def. Alexandre Pantoja via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-47, 50-45) – retains UFC flyweight title
• Arman Tsarukyan def. Mauricio Ruffy via KO (elbows) – R1, 4:56
• Patricio Pitbull def. DooHo Choi via KO (punches) – R1, 3:28
• Sean Sharaf def. Gable Steveson via KO (punches) – R1, 0:12
• Alonzo Menifield def. Iwo Baraniewski via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Preliminary Card
• Marlon Vera def. Charles Jourdain via TKO (punch) – R3, 2:02
• Robelis Despaigne def. Tai Tuivasa via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Michael Aswell Jr. def. JooSang Yoo via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Ryan Gandra def. Ozzy Diaz via TKO (punches) – R1, 2:04
• Early Preliminary Card
• Edmen Shahbazyan def. Brunno Ferreira via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Casey O’Neill def. Eduarda Moura via submission (armbar) – R1, 3:22
• Joanderson Brito def. Giga Chikadze via KO (punches) – R1, 1:57

On a night of comebacks, collapses, and careers rewritten in seconds, Joshua Van walked out with his belt, Arman Tsarukyan with his title claim sharpened, and the rest of the roster warned: UFC 331 was not a card to survive. It was a card to make a statement.