Three Fighters Who Stole the Show at UFC 331

Many are calling UFC 331 a potential card of the year, and I’d agree, placing it slightly behind the White House card, mainly because of the grandeur and name value of that specific event. 

Regardless, UFC 331 delivered a numbered card many fans were craving after a few underwhelming main events in numbered cards.

Joshua Van defeats Alexandre Pantoja by Unanimous Decision

After some animosity and bad blood during the build up to this rematch, the narrative in this fight was Joshua Van proving himself as the legitimate champion and Alexandre Pantoja proving that the first fight was in fact a fluke. The true winner, after 5 rounds were the fans, gifted another fight of the year candidate as Joshua Van cemented his second title defense in 2026 in all all out war with Pantoja.

Pantoja entered this fight with some amount of anger, continuously looking to land and mix his wrestling. Van’s wrestling defense proved elite and improved as he survived and thrived to find himself back on the feet. Pantoja’s chin at 36 proved to be durable as he wore damage with no issue as he attempted to will his way into another title victory.

As we made our way into the 5th round, the fight was too close to call, though a massive knockdown and submission attempt from Van all but tied the knot in what was a brilliant performance for the Myanmar Native. While the 50-45 score card is questionable, the overall victory is to be applauded. Moreover, having Pantoja return from injury in great form still gives us the confidence we could see this fight happen again sometime in the future.

Arman Tsarukyan defeats Mauricio Ruffy by R1 KO

When predicting this fight, most people would predict either a grappling masterclass from Arman or a highlight reel knockout for Mauricio Ruffy. The reality was in fact quite different. Ruffy showcased great wrestling defense, defending 9 of the 10 takedown attempts by Tsarukyan in the first round, even finding success on the feet with a thundering straight right that bruised Arman’s eye. With 8 seconds left in the round, Arman lands a brutal elbow on Ruffy as they disengage from the clinch and that is all she wrote.

Ruffy’s wrestling display was in fact impressive and perhaps that is a positive to take out of this fight for the Brazilian who has nothing to be ashamed of after losing to a potential future champion in a fight where he was able to showcase improvement. For Tsarukyan, his ticket for a lightweight title fight must be in order, be it against Gaethje or even Ilia Topuria if that throne becomes vacant.

Sean Sharaf defeats Gable Stevenson by R1 KO

As -2500 favorite against a 4-2 Sean Sharaf, a vast majority of MMA fans expected a swift and dominating performance from the former NCAA champion. The reality was in fact quite different as we saw Sean Sharaf land swiftly and quickly with a left hook that sent the Jon Jones protege flying into orbit, landing stiff on the rough surface of the canvas, disconnected from reality, welcoming the cold and dark embrace from the shadow realm.

While this was an upset, this was a seemingly welcome upset given the controversy surrounding Steveson’s 2019 criminal case. Regardless, Sean Sharaf takes home an extra $100K in bonuses. Prior to the fight, the former US Marine shared that he was $600K in debt. While this won’t account for all the debt, it will put a nice dent into it.

These moments summarize why the sport of MMA is one of the most popular and why we keep tuning in every single week.