Joshua Van carves up Alexandre Pantoja to retain UFC flyweight title at UFC 331

Joshua Van successfully defended his UFC flyweight title at UFC 331, overwhelming former champion Alexandre Pantoja across three rounds in the main event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on September 19. Van's dominant performance with unanimous decision scores of 49-46, 49-47, and 50-45 silenced doubters who questioned his legitimacy after winning the belt last December under controversial circumstances involving a freak injury.

Pantoja (30-7) brought relentless effort and never surrendered, but Van's suffocating pressure and consistent striking proved decisive. Late in the fight, the Brazilian threw caution aside while running low on energy, absorbing punch after punch but staying competitive until the final horn.

In the co-main event, Arman Tsarukyan made a statement at lightweight, defeating Mauricio Ruffy (14-3) via first-round knockout at 4:56. After absorbing an early sizzling right cross that rocked him, Tsarukyan regrouped and spent the majority of the round hunting takedowns. As the round neared its end, he landed a devastating left elbow from the clinch, followed by a finishing right elbow that left Ruffy unconscious. The victory improved Tsarukyan to 24-3 and cemented his status as the likely next title contender.

Other main-card results included veteran Patricio Freire (38-9) stopping Doo Ho Choi (17-5-1) via first-round knockout at 3:20 with a left uppercut after aggressive early damage; Sean Sharaf knocking out heavily favored grappler Gable Steveson in just 12 seconds with a counter left hook; Alonzo Menifield capturing a split decision over Iwo Baraniewski (9-1); Marlon Vera (24-12-1) defeating Charles Jourdain (18-9-1) via TKO at 2:02 of round three; Robelis Despaigne (7-2) defeating Tai Tuivasa via split decision; Michael Aswell Jr. (12-5) winning a split decision over Joo Sang Yoo (9-2); Ryan Gandra (11-1) stopping Osman Diaz via first-round TKO at 2:04; Edmen Shahbazyan (17-6) defeating Brunno Ferreira (15-5) via unanimous decision; and Casey O'Neill submitting (12-3) via armbar at 3:22 of round one.