UFC 331 Flyweight Title Rematch Headlines a Loaded Week
UFC this week runs from a Tuesday Contender Series show in Las Vegas to Saturday’s numbered card in Los Angeles, with a vacant heavyweight title hanging over the rest of the calendar. The main attraction is UFC 331, where Joshua Van defends the flyweight championship against Alexandre Pantoja at Crypto.com Arena.
The rematch exists because their first meeting never became a fight. Van took the belt from Pantoja at UFC 323 in December after an early collision ended the contest almost as soon as it started, and both men have spent the months since asking for a full night. Van enters 17-2. Pantoja is 30-6 and still the most proven name at 125 pounds.
The co-main may decide the next lightweight title shot. No. 2-ranked Arman Tsarukyan returns against knockout artist Mauricio Ruffy in a five-round bout after earlier plans for a Charles Oliveira rematch fell through. Ruffy is 14-2 and coming off stoppages of Rafael Fiziev and Michael Chandler. Tsarukyan is 23-3 and has been waiting for a clear path back to the title picture.
The Los Angeles main card also pairs Patricio Pitbull with Doo Ho Choi at featherweight and Alonzo Menifield with undefeated Iwo Baraniewski at light heavyweight. Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson now opens that main card against Sean Sharaf after a late scratch changed the running order.
That scratch was Brian Ortega. The former featherweight title challenger pulled out of his lightweight debut against Renato Moicano after taking stitches above the eye in camp, and UFC moved Moicano into an Oct. 31 Fight Night main event against Tom Nolan at the Meta APEX. Ortega said he was on weight and that the camp had been one of his best. “I have to pull out of the fight because of the stitches in my eye,” he wrote.
Prelims still carry names that usually sit higher on a card. Marlon Vera meets Charles Jourdain at bantamweight, and Tai Tuivasa faces Robelis Despaigne at heavyweight. Early prelims include Edmen Shahbazyan versus Brunno Ferreira and Casey O’Neill versus Eduarda Moura. The full show streams on Paramount+, with early prelims at 5 p.m. ET, prelims at 7, and the main card at 9.
Before Los Angeles, UFC this week starts tonight. Dana White’s Contender Series 10, Week 6 airs live from the Meta APEX at 7 p.m. ET on Paramount+, with five prospects fighting for contracts. Undefeated welterweight Zevan Hunt (7-0) headlines against Mayton Perea (8-3), and unbeaten lightweight Akbar Abdullaev (13-0) meets Ednilson Santos. All 10 fighters made weight Monday.
The other major development landed Monday, when Tom Aspinall vacated the heavyweight title because of ongoing eye problems. Aspinall has not finished a championship fight since inheriting the belt from retired Jon Jones, and a no-contest against Ciryl Gane last October started a stretch of surgeries, infections, and a later sparring setback.
“Ongoing complications with my eyes mean I cannot get medically cleared to fight right now,” Aspinall said. “I’ve now made the decision to vacate the heavyweight title. I’ve asked the UFC to allow me to make this statement because I don’t want to hold the heavyweight division up.” Gane already holds the interim strap after beating Alex Pereira and now sits as the man in possession of the division.
Last Saturday’s Noche UFC card in Glendale closed the previous week and set a small piece of this one. Jean Silva submitted Jose Delgado in the main event, while Tommy McMillen turned in the performance that has already drawn calls for a faster rise. That result is in the books. The next ranking fights are in Los Angeles.
The week after UFC 331 stays on the same track. Another Contender Series episode lands Sept. 22, then Raul Rosas Jr. meets Raoni Barcelos on Sept. 26 in Las Vegas. For now the sport is pointed at Saturday, when Van and Pantoja finally get the flyweight title fight that lasted only seconds the first time.