UFC Books Van-Pantoja 2 for Sept. 19 as Tsarukyan-Ruffy Lands on UFC 331

Q: With all his pro wins under a minute, is Gable Steveson being protected or primed for a heavyweight takeover at UFC 331?

It looks more like careful priming than outright protection. The matchmaking tells the story. Steveson is 4-0, all by first-round knockout, with a total pro cage time of just 8:24, and he stopped Elisha Ellison in his UFC debut without even needing his elite wrestling. That kind of résumé creates hype, but it also means he is still inexperienced in long fights, defensive reactions, and high-level UFC adversity. Sean Sharaf, meanwhile, is 0-2 in the UFC and coming off back-to-back knockout losses. On paper, that is a favorable second step. At the same time, the UFC is not matching Steveson with total unknowns off the regional scene. Sharaf has UFC experience and enough size and power to make Steveson work if there are holes in his game. The promotion appears to be doing what it often does with blue-chip prospects: giving him a winnable fight while testing whether the tools hold up under brighter lights. The bigger point is that Steveson’s upside is why the UFC is moving quickly. He is an Olympic gold medalist, a two-time NCAA champion, trains with Jon Jones and JacksonWink, and has drawn extraordinary praise for his athletic ceiling. In a heavyweight division that has often lacked young elite athletes, the UFC has obvious incentive to build him carefully but aggressively. So UFC 331 looks less like hiding Steveson and more like accelerating him on a controlled track. If he blows through Sharaf again, the “protection” debate will likely end and the real tests will come next.

Q: With explosive matchups already confirmed, which rumored blockbuster fight is the UFC secretly holding back for the Los Angeles main event?

The strongest indication is that UFC 331’s Los Angeles headliner is Joshua Van vs. Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight title. That is the most concrete rumored “blockbuster” attached to the Sept. 19 card in the supplemental material. One event listing tied to Crypto.com Arena names Van-Pantoja as the five-round championship main event, with Arman Tsarukyan vs. Mauricio Ruffy as the co-main event. By contrast, other rumored fights around UFC 331 are less settled. Tsarukyan has also been linked elsewhere to Charles Oliveira, but that pairing is specifically described in the sourced material as unconfirmed. Renato Moicano vs. Brian Ortega has been mentioned too, but not as a likely headliner. There is also separate reporting that Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Curtis Blaydes is booked for UFC 331, reinforcing that the promotion is stacking the card beyond the three newly announced bouts. Still, a heavyweight contender fight of that level would more naturally fit as a featured undercard bout rather than a championship main event if Van-Pantoja is indeed in place. So, based on the available evidence, the fight the UFC appears to have been holding back for the Los Angeles main event is Van defending the flyweight belt against former champion Pantoja. Until the UFC makes it official, it remains prudent to treat it as the leading reported matchup rather than confirmed fact.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo Sports · Aug 5

Sept. 19’s UFC 331 in Los Angeles will be headlined by flyweight champion Joshua Van’s rematch with Alexandre Pantoja, with Arman Tsarukyan facing Mauricio Ruffy in a five-round co-main event.
Their first title fight at UFC 323 lasted just 26 seconds after Pantoja dislocated his elbow, handing Van the belt in an injury-marred finish that left the championship unsettled.
Van enters at 17-2 on a seven-fight win streak and has already defended the title once, knocking out Tatsuro Taira in the fifth round at UFC 328.
Pantoja, 30-6, returns after rehabbing the injury that ended his reign; before that loss, he had won eight straight and defended the flyweight title four times.
The co-main adds lightweight stakes as Tsarukyan, 23-3, returns from a long UFC layoff against Ruffy, 14-2, who stopped Michael Chandler and Rafael Fiziev in his last two fights.