UFC 331: Van vs. Pantoja 2—A Championship Rematch in Los Angeles
The first time Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja shared a cage, the fight barely started before it was over. Twenty-six seconds, one freak arm injury, and the UFC flyweight title changed hands in a way that satisfied no one.
On Saturday in Los Angeles, there are no excuses left.
Van walks into UFC 331 as champion, but still with something to prove. Pantoja arrives as the challenger, but with the simmering conviction of a man who believes the belt was never truly taken from him.
This isn’t just a rematch. It’s a verdict.
Van’s youth vs. Pantoja’s legacy
Van is 24, aggressive, fearless and already battle-tested as champion. His first defense in May against Tatsuro Taira turned into a five-round gut check. He got taken down. He got put in bad spots. He adjusted mid-fight, turned the tide, and finished a surging contender in a war that announced him as more than a paper titleholder.
That performance changed the way many saw him. It also sharpened the stakes for Saturday.
Across from him stands Pantoja, 36, a Brazilian veteran who climbed the mountain late and refuses to accept that his reign ended on a medical technicality. He dislocated his elbow in that first Van fight before either man had time to show anything. Now he comes back as the underdog, carrying the weight of a career’s worth of mileage and a point to prove.
Experience and craft still lean Pantoja’s way. He’s one of the most accomplished flyweights the division has seen, a fighter who actually improved after finally winning the title deep into his UFC run. The question is whether that experience can still offset Van’s speed, volume and youthful relentlessness.
Some see the age and the injury layoff and lean hard toward the champion. Others look at Pantoja’s body of work and believe he has enough savvy to weather Van’s early storm and drag him into deeper, more familiar waters.
The CBS Sports panel split down those lines. Brian Campbell and Brandon Wise backed Pantoja by submission in the later rounds, trusting his grappling and big-fight composure. Brent Brookhouse, Shakiel Mahjouri and Michael Mormile rode with the youth movement, all picking Van by knockout or TKO, most of them inside two rounds.
If Pantoja is ever going to beat this version of Van, it has to be now, before the champion’s growth curve bends even steeper. If Van explodes again under the bright lights, this rivalry might close with brutal finality.
Tsarukyan’s long road back to gold
The main event carries the bad blood. The co-main carries the consequence.
Arman Tsarukyan was supposed to fight for the lightweight title in January 2025, also in Los Angeles, against Islam Makhachev. Instead, a disastrous weight cut and an injury ripped that opportunity away, sending him back into the queue.
More than 20 months later, he returns to the same city with the same mission: win, and leave the UFC no choice but to give him his shot.
Standing in his way is Mauricio Ruffy, a rising lightweight with knockout power and a flair for chaos. Ruffy has already delivered two thrillers this year, the kind of fights that get fans talking and matchmakers listening. But his last major setback still hangs over this matchup: a 2025 mauling on the ground by Benoit Saint Denis.
That loss exposed a gap. Tsarukyan is built to drive a truck through it.
He’s one of the division’s elite wrestlers, a relentless pressure fighter who’s taken down everyone he has faced in the UFC, including Makhachev in his debut. Ruffy loves to throw kicks and play at range; those same weapons can become invitations for Tsarukyan to change levels and plant him on the canvas.
The CBS crew sees it the same way. All five analysts picked Tsarukyan, most by late stoppage, forecasting a grind that slowly breaks Ruffy’s base and his gas tank. Campbell expects top pressure to exhaust the Brazilian in a five-round co-headliner. Brookhouse and Mahjouri see a finish in the second half of the fight. Only Mormile and Wise lean toward Tsarukyan by decision, but even those picks assume control rather than chaos.
Ruffy has trained with Alexander Volkanovski and insists he’s evolved. The problem is timing. Tsarukyan isn’t just a step up; he’s several. If the Armenian contender does what many expect, the title shot that slipped away in 2025 may finally be back within reach.
Choi vs. Pitbull: fire fight at featherweight
Not every fight on this card is about belts or brackets. Some are about pure violence.
Dooho Choi vs. Patricio Pitbull is one of them.
Choi, once thought to be fading after three straight losses, has roared back with a four-fight unbeaten run and three consecutive TKOs. “The Korean Superboy” still walks forward, still trusts his chin, and still carries the kind of power that turns brawls into highlight reels.
Pitbull brings a different kind of history. A two-division Bellator champion and one of that promotion’s all-time greats, he steps into this featherweight clash at 39, with a legendary résumé and a body that has clearly absorbed the cost. Aaron Pico’s punishing win over him underlined that reality.
On paper, Pitbull’s grappling edge is obvious. In practice, his ability to sustain that style over three hard rounds is in doubt. Choi’s pressure doesn’t relent, and his chin has held up in some of the wildest exchanges the division has seen.
The CBS panel is unanimous here: all four who weighed in backed Choi, most by TKO, some by decision. The expectation is the same: a furious pace, moments of success for Pitbull, but eventually a tide of pressure and power that the veteran can no longer withstand.
This isn’t a passing of the torch in a formal sense. It’s more brutal than that. It’s a test of how much of Pitbull’s greatness remains and how far Choi’s resurgence can really go.
Steveson, Baraniewski and a card built for chaos
Further down the main card, the UFC leans into spectacle.
Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson continues his transition into MMA against fellow prospect Sean Sharaf. The odds are lopsided for a reason. Steveson’s wrestling pedigree is off the charts, and every CBS analyst picked him to finish Sharaf inside two rounds, most expecting a swift stoppage on the mat.
The main card opener at light heavyweight might not last long either. Iwo Baraniewski meets Alonzo Menifield in a matchup that screams early finish. The experts are unanimous again: all five picked Baraniewski by knockout or TKO in the first round.
Around them, the undercard is stacked with potential detonations. Heavyweight puncher Robelis Despaigne is a massive favorite over fan-favorite brawler Tai Tuivasa. Casey O’Neill looks to reassert herself at women’s flyweight against Eduarda Moura. Joanderson Brito, Charles Jourdain, Edmen Shahbazyan and others all feature in matchups that could reshape their divisions’ middle tiers.
UFC 331 doesn’t arrive with a single, clean storyline. It comes with several converging at once: a champion trying to validate his crown, a veteran hunting for redemption, a contender clawing back toward a title shot that slipped away, and a legend testing the limits of his own durability.
By the time the lights go down in Los Angeles, we’ll know whether youth really rules this card—or whether the old guard has one more night left to tear up the script.
