Alexandre Pantoja did not tap Joshua Van’s glove before the fight began. Nine months after an injury ended his reign as flyweight champion in just 26 seconds, the Brazilian returned to the Octagon to try to reclaim the belt that slipped away.
This time, no injury clouded the result. Pantoja came out determined to impose his style from the opening seconds, but Van found a way to keep him at a distance, counter with his boxing and survive the former champion’s take-down attempts.
After five rounds, the judges awarded the fight to the Van by unanimous decision, with scores of 49-46, 49-47 and 50-45.
Van retained the 125-pound title in the main event of UFC 331, held Saturday at Crypto.com Arena in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,357 fans. UFC CEO Dana White said the event generated $8.3 million in box office revenue, the highest in the arena’s history.
The result also vindicated Van’s claim to the championship.
In December 2025, Pantoja threw a high kick that Van caught. The Brazilian lost his balance and braced his left arm on the canvas to break his fall, but his elbow dislocated. The fight ended after 26 seconds and Van was awarded the belt.
Joshua Van punches Alexandre Pantoja during their UFC 331 flyweight championship bout at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
(Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Both fighters had much to gain during their return to the Octagon.
The animosity that had built up was evident from the start. As the fight began, Pantoja went straight for Van. The Brazilian scored an early takedown and sought to keep the champion on the mat, attempting to turn the fight into a grappling and ground-and-pound battle.
Van resisted and managed to get back to his feet. The lack of action during some early stretches prompted the first boos from the crowd.
But the pace changed.
Van began to find openings with his hands and Pantoja had to absorb strikes while continuing to seek takedowns. The champion also showed better defense against the Brazilian’s advances as the rounds progressed.
In the second round, the fight had to be briefly stopped after Pantoja claimed a headbutt. The strike was reviewed and determined to have been accidental, so the fight continued.
“I don’t even know why he was getting worked up. He came at me throwing punches, and I was just trying to counter, and he simply hit me in the head,” Van said. “I guess … I have a tougher head. So then he started complaining and all that. He was saying, ‘You headbutted me, you’re cheating.’ And I told him, ‘You hit me!’ So… um … that was it.”
Van began to take greater control of the fight during the second and third rounds. His boxing allowed him to keep Pantoja at a distance and respond when the Brazilian tried to close in to take him down. Pantoja kept pressing, but he could no longer control the fight on the ground for extended periods.
The fourth round allowed the former champion to regain some of the control he’d lost. Pantoja managed to take Van down to the canvas again and worked from the top for much of the round, showing that he could still trouble the champion when he managed to impose his style.
Van, however, ended the fight on a high note.
“I knew I hurt him — you know, I knew I hurt him,” Van said. “He’s a mental giant, you know. He just didn’t want to go down. He doesn’t want to show that he’s hurt, but I know deep down he was hurt. But like I said, man, that’s why I respect him so much.”
In the fifth round, the champion landed a powerful right-hand punch that knocked Pantoja down. The Brazilian managed to recover and continue until the end, but the blow ultimately tipped the fight in Van’s favor.
Alexandre Pantoja tries to pin Joshua Van on the ground during their UFC 331 flyweight championship bout at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
(Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Ahead of the bout, Van defended his title in May against Tatsuro Taira, winning by technical knockout in the fifth round. Pantoja, on the other hand, hadn’t competed since his elbow injury against Van.
“There’s nothing to prove, man,” Van said. “Like I said, I knew I was going to win the first fight, too. So it’s like: ‘OK, do you guys want to see me win again?’”
Before the fight, tensions between the two had escalated. Van had insisted that his first victory wasn’t solely due to Pantoja’s injury, while the Brazilian argued that the December result didn’t show who was truly the better fighter.
The answer, this time, came after 25 minutes.
Tsarukyan knocks out Ruffy
Arman Tsarukyan celebrates after earning a knockout win over Mauricio Ruffy during his UFC 331 lightweight bout at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
(Luke Hales / Getty Images)
The co-main event of the night also ended sooner than expected.
Arman Tsarukyan and Mauricio Ruffy arrived at Crypto.com Arena with a five-round bout scheduled and key positions in the lightweight division on the line. Ruffy accepted the fight with just four weeks of preparation after Charles Oliveira was pulled from the card.
Ruffy came out ready to trade blows and showed speed in the opening minutes. Tsarukyan, as he had done for much of his career, sought to use his wrestling skills to change the pace of the fight.
Tsarukyan managed to drive Ruffy against the cage and began landing elbows. At the 4:56 mark of the first round, Tsarukyan landed two elbows that knocked Ruffy out and forced the referee to stop the fight.
“I came to Los Angeles to enjoy the city,” Tsarukyan said. “But I also came to win. I owe those elbows to one of my coaches who taught me how to use them.”
