UFC 331 Best Bets: Three Main Card Picks for Van vs. Pantoja 2

For the first time in just over eight years, the UFC returns to the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles tonight, as the Octagon hosts UFC 331.

The main event is the highly anticipated flyweight championship rematch between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja. The two met at UFC 323, with Van defeating Pantoja for the championship in mere seconds after a Van block resulted in Pantoja falling and injuring his arm.

Van has won seven straight. He defended the championship successfully earlier this year at UFC 328, scoring a fifth-round finish of Tatsuro Taira.

This is Pantoja’s first fight back from injury. After winning the championship from Brandon Moreno at UFC 290, Pantoja successfully defended the title four times, defeating Brandon Royval, Steve Erceg, Kai Asakura, and Kai Kara-France.

The co-main event will be a potential lightweight title eliminator as Arman Tsarukyan takes on Mauricio Ruffy. 

Tsarukyan has won five straight, with this fight marking his first since submitting Dan Hooker at UFC Qatar 10 months ago. Tsarukyan has still been active, mostly competing in Real American Freestyle.

Ruffy is 5-1 in the UFC, having already finished Rafael Fiziev and Michael Chandler earlier this year.

The rest of the UFC 331 main card features Patricio Pitbull vs. Doo-ho Choi, Gable Steveson vs. Sean Sharaf, and Alonzo Menifield vs. Iwo Baraniewski.

PATRICIO PITBULL VS DOO-HO CHOI

Bellator-era Patricio Pitbull he is not. The former two-weight Bellator champion has not looked particularly impressive in the UFC. He’s lost to Yair Rodriguez and Aaron Pico, and he didn’t even look too impressive in the win over Dan Ige last year. Pitbull still has his defensive abilities and counterstriking to go with his years of experience; however, his explosive offense seems to be a thing of the past now.

Since returning from a three-year layoff, Choi has experienced somewhat of a resurgence, going 3-0-1 since, coming into this bout off a finish of Daniel Santos in the UFC Vegas 117 Fight of the Night last May. The striking of “The Korean Superboy” is still as dangerous as ever. If an opponent lets him dictate the pace and work his striking, it’s going to be a hard time for them.

Will we see any signs of life from Pitbull’s fight strategy? Can Choi maintain his offensive pace without giving Pitbull clean counter opportunities?

BET: Fight goes the distance (DraftKings & BetMGM: +100)

ALONZO MENIFIELD VS IWO BARANIEWSKI

Here is that “sacrificial lamb” kind of matchup; Menifield is going to be the gatekeeper here being used to allow Baraniewski to enter the UFC rankings with an impact. Baraniewski, in fact, has already made an impact, coming into this bout 9-0 with seven KO/TKOs and two submissions – all coming in round one. He’s earned performance bonuses in all three UFC bouts he’s had so far, and none of them have lasted longer than 90 seconds.

For Menifield to win here, he’s going to have to weather a powerful storm from Baraniewski’s fists to start. If he does so, Menifield’s best strategy will then be to slow the fight’s pace down, pin him to the fence, or look for takedowns. Baraniewski is a former judoka, but Menifield’s better doing this than trying to stand and trade and eat punches.

BET: Baraniewski via KO/TKO in Round 1 (FanDuel: +125)

TAI TUIVASA VS ROBELIS DESPAIGNE

I love Tuivasa, and no offense intended, but the fact he’s still on the roster just shows how depleted and disgusting the UFC’s heavyweight division is. One more loss, and Tuivasa will be tied with Tony Ferguson for the dubious honor of most consecutive losses in UFC history. He likely needs a win to keep his job, but it’s going to be tough against someone like Despaigne.

Despaigne was on the UFC roster two years ago, but unimpressive losses to Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Austen Lane after his first Octagon win led to a quick release. In the time since, however, he’s developed his game, going on to win Karate Combat’s heavyweight championship and knocking out Junior dos Santos on the MVP MMA card. We’ve seen where Despaigne is weak and what Tuivasa can do for success; however, we know this is going to be a stand-and-bang war.

We need to see a vintage Tuivasa chin and power; otherwise, it’s only a matter of when he gets KO’d for the record.

BET: Despaigne via KO/TKO in Round 1 (FanDuel & DraftKings: -135)