UFC 331 Results: Van Retains Title, Tsarukyan Ends Ruffy in 96 Seconds
Joshua Van just beat the same man twice in five months, and this time nobody in the building was arguing about it. UFC 331 delivered a flyweight title fight that lived up to the “Fight of the Year” hype building around it since fight week, plus a first-round elbow that ended Mauricio Ruffy’s undefeated run before most fans had found their seats. This was one of the deepest cards the promotion has put together in 2026, and a handful of results are going to reshape three different divisions heading into the fall.
Joshua Van Grinds Out a Clear Win Over Pantoja in the Rematch
Joshua Van retained his flyweight title over Alexandre Pantoja by unanimous decision, with scores of 49-46, 48-47, and 50-45. Van used speed and range to pepper Pantoja from the outside for five rounds while stuffing the veteran’s clinch entries. The result was never in real doubt, even if one scorecard was wider than the fight actually looked.
That 50-45 card is the part worth arguing about. Pantoja landed real offense in rounds two and four, forced scrambles, and had Van backed up against the fence more than once. A 49-46 tells that story. A 50-45 does not — it says Van won every single minute, and that’s not what happened on the feet in the championship rounds. None of that changes who should have had his hand raised. Van’s jab-and-pivot gameplan against a five-time title challenger who lives in the clinch was close to perfect, and he showed he can do it again if the UFC books a trilogy. It just means one judge watched a different fight than everyone else in the building.
Arman Tsarukyan Turns Off Mauricio Ruffy’s Hype Machine With One Elbow
Arman Tsarukyan needed 96 seconds to end Mauricio Ruffy’s night with a short elbow that put “The Ninja” flat on his back. Ruffy came in unbeaten and riding a wave of highlight-reel finishes, and Tsarukyan erased all of it before the fight had a chance to develop.
We broke down this exact matchup before UFC 331 and flagged that Ruffy’s unorthodox timing works great against fighters who respect it — and falls apart against someone who just walks through it and lands first. That’s precisely what happened. Tsarukyan didn’t play Ruffy’s rhythm game; he closed distance, ate a counter, and put him down anyway. That finish should end any debate about who deserves the next crack at the lightweight title picture. Skip the interim-fight theater and book Tsarukyan for a title eliminator now — he’s earned it twice over, and the division doesn’t have a cleaner resume than his right now.
Patricio Pitbull and Sean Sharaf Deliver the Finishes Fans Wanted
Patricio Pitbull stopped Dooho Choi with punches in the first round, looking every bit like the featherweight force who terrorized Bellator for a decade. Sean Sharaf then knocked out Olympic wrestler Gable Steveson with a single punch, also in round one, in one of the more jarring results of the night.
Pitbull at this stage of his career doesn’t need a title shot — the featherweight logjam is too crowded and he’s 38. What he’s earned is a marquee name fight, something that tests whether the age-defying chin and power are still championship-level or just good-enough-for-now. Steveson’s loss is the bigger story of the two. A two-time NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist getting separated from his senses in the first round by a single shot is exactly the kind of moment that should slow down the “generational wrestler walks into the UFC and wins a title” narrative. Elite wrestling gets you top position. It does not automatically get you a chin, and Steveson’s has now been legitimately questioned twice.
Casey O’Neill and Chito Vera Steal the Undercard Spotlight
Buried on the prelims, Casey O’Neill scored a first-round finish that deserved a bigger stage than the early card gave it. On the main prelims, Marlon “Chito” Vera battered Charles Jourdain to a brutal third-round TKO stoppage, while Robelis Despaigne edged out a split decision over Tai Tuivasa.
Vera’s win matters more than a prelim slot suggests. He looked like the version of himself that beat Sean O’Malley the first time, not the fighter who dropped three of his last five. A finish that clean over a durable opponent like Jourdain puts him right back in the featherweight conversation, and it’s the kind of performance that gets buried when the main card has a title fight and two first-round knockouts stacked on top of it. Don’t sleep on it just because it happened before the pay-per-view window opened.
What UFC 331 Teaches TKO Tycoon Players About Fight IQ
Every fight on this card was decided by a gameplan, not just talent. Van’s five-round pace management against a grappler who wanted a war of attrition is the same tradeoff you manage when you’re building a fighter in TKO Tycoon — burn your cardio stat chasing a finish, or bank rounds with a controlled gameplan and let the scorecards do the work. We wrote about how cardio actually functions in a real camp and in the game, and Van’s performance is the clearest real-world example you’ll see all year: a fighter with a plan for five rounds beats a fighter with a plan for one.
Tsarukyan’s finish teaches the opposite lesson. Sometimes the right strategic call in TKO Tycoon isn’t to out-condition your opponent — it’s to close the distance immediately and take the finish before a stylistic mismatch gets the chance to develop. Ruffy’s unorthodox output is dangerous over a long fight. It’s far less dangerous in the first 90 seconds, before he’s found a rhythm. Knowing when to play the long game and when to just go get the finish is the same decision your in-game camp has to make before every fight, and UFC 331 was a full night of examples in both directions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the UFC 331 main event?
Joshua Van defeated Alexandre Pantoja by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 50-45) to retain the UFC flyweight championship. It was their second meeting, with Van winning both times.
What happened between Tsarukyan and Ruffy at UFC 331?
Arman Tsarukyan knocked out Mauricio Ruffy with a first-round elbow, ending Ruffy’s undefeated record in 96 seconds and strengthening his own case for a lightweight title shot.
Did Gable Steveson lose at UFC 331?
Yes. Sean Sharaf knocked out Gable Steveson with a single punch in the first round, one of the most surprising results on the card given Steveson’s wrestling pedigree.
When is Joshua Van’s next flyweight title defense?
No opponent has been announced yet. Van has now beaten Pantoja twice, so the UFC is expected to look at the next contender in the flyweight rankings rather than book an immediate trilogy.
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References
- UFC.com – official main card results and scorecards
- ESPN MMA – live results and analysis of Van vs. Pantoja 2
- CBS Sports – full card results and highlights
- UFC.com – preliminary card results
