UFC 331: The Biggest Winners & Losers (And What's Next?)

20 hours ago

5 min read

UFC 331 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles delivered from top to bottom: six first-round finishes, a Fight of the Year contender in the main event, and a 12-second heavyweight upset that had the whole MMA community cheering the same result. We gave the card an 8 out of 10. Joshua Van buried the "fluke champion" talk, Arman Tsarukyan made his title case with elbows, and Sean Sharaf cashed the biggest ticket of our year.

Biggest Winners

1. Joshua Van

We picked Alexandre Pantoja to drag Van into deep water for 25 minutes. Instead, Van outclassed him. Pantoja looked like his prime self early, with body locks, clinch knees and even full mount in round one, but Van simply stood back up, won the underhook battle and let his jab work like a metronome. Pantoja clipped him with a right high kick and controlled round four, which had us scoring it 2-2 going into the fifth. Van was the fresher man in the championship round: a one-two put Pantoja down, and he even hunted a kimura on the way to a unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 50-45) and Fight of the Night. That 50-45 card was not a serious score, but the right man won. Afterward Van revealed he fought with a torn AC joint in his right shoulder and only sparred in the final two weeks of camp. He's 24 and still getting better.

What's next? Manel Kape. It's the only fight that makes sense. Asu Almabayev is the only other name, and he isn't quite there yet.

2. Arman Tsarukyan

For about 90 seconds it looked like Mauricio Ruffy might have Batman's number. Ruffy cracked him early with a right hand that clearly affected him. Then the wrestling took over. Tsarukyan pinned Ruffy to the fence and chained singles into trips and back takes, and every time Ruffy braced for the next shot, the elbows came instead. Off one final break, a two-piece of elbows put Ruffy out on his feet at 4:56 of round one. A knockout for Arman wasn't on our bingo card, but the striking has clearly leveled up. Performance of the Night.

What's next? Give him the title shot: Tsarukyan vs. Justin Gaethje, anytime, anywhere. If Gaethje isn't available, Ilia Topuria is our runner-up.

3. Sean Sharaf

Twelve seconds. Gable Steveson opened with a leg kick, drifted backward off a Sharaf right hand with his eyes closed, and ate a flush left hook that put him out stiff. Sharaf, a former Marine and a massive underdog, got his first UFC win and a $100,000 "Proper Chaos" bonus. We had him as one of our dogs, and between a pre-fight sprinkle on Sharaf by KO and a live bet as he made the walk, he single-handedly turned our week around.

What's next? Let him build his name against a big one. Our pick is Derrick Lewis. Tai Tuivasa is another option if the UFC keeps him. Valter Walker got floated too, but we don't love that matchup for him.

4. Casey O'Neill

Eduarda Moura had O'Neill in real trouble early, deep in an arm-triangle/anaconda-style squeeze with the leg wrapped. O'Neill stayed calm, got her butterfly hooks in, elevated Moura over, and rolled straight into a belly-down armbar at 3:22 of round one. It was the slickest finish of the night and maybe of the year, and it earned her a Performance of the Night bonus.

What's next? Maycee Barber. O'Neill called her out, and it's the logical fight. 10 out of 10, no notes.

Biggest Losers

1. Gable Steveson

The Olympic gold medalist's first real test on the feet lasted 12 seconds. He had never been hit like that, and it showed: he retreated with his eyes closed and got caught flush. Jon Jones, who cornered him, said it was his call to get Steveson out of the cage quickly afterward. The wrestling pedigree is real, but the MMA development has a long way to go.

What's next? Robelis Despaigne. A giant striker against an elite wrestler is pure styles-versus-styles, old-school UFC matchmaking.

2. Alexandre Pantoja

Pantoja's durability kept this closer than it should have been. He walked through shots that would have put most flyweights away, and he never stopped coming. But the takedowns stopped landing, he kept leaving his head on the center line, and the fifth-round knockdown sealed it. Losing twice to the same champion puts him at the back of the line.

What's next? Tatsuro Taira, who is also coming off a loss to Van.

3. Giga Chikadze

Chikadze was winning this fight. He was landing straight lefts and body kicks, and he hurt Joanderson Brito at least once. Then he slipped throwing a high kick, and Brito followed him down and hammered out the finish at 1:57 of round one. That's back-to-back knockout losses at 38.

What's next? Honestly, we think it may be time for Giga to hang them up. He has given us a lot of great fights.

Other Notable Performances

Patrício Pitbull made us look worst of anyone. We had Dooho Choi. Instead, the former Bellator king walked through the range, sat down on a right hand, and finished Choi with punches and elbows at 3:28 of round one for his first UFC knockout. Next up, we want Steve Garcia or Joanderson Brito.
Marlon Vera proved us wrong about old dogs and new tricks. It was his best first round in years. He caught a Charles Jourdain flying knee and slammed him, then broke him down until Jourdain waved it off at 2:02 of round three. Jourdain later said he had lost his vision, so it was the smart call.
Alonzo Menifield won a split decision over Iwo Baraniewski while fighting through a gruesome thumb injury. He's tough as nails, but we both scored rounds one and two for Baraniewski. Next for Menifield, we like Nikita Krylov or Jan Blachowicz.
Ryan Gandra made it three straight first-round finishes, stopping Osman Diaz at 2:04. We want him against the winner of Damian Pinas vs. Andrey Pulyaev.
Robelis Despaigne took a split decision over Tai Tuivasa in an ugly heavyweight grind that we thought Tuivasa won. Edmen Shahbazyan outworked Brunno Ferreira for a unanimous decision (Jared Cannonier next), and Michael Aswell Jr. edged Yoo Joo-sang on a split decision we agreed with.

How Our Picks Did

The prediction sheet had a rough night. We both backed Pantoja, Choi, Baraniewski, Jourdain and Yoo, and all five lost. We both nailed Gandra by first-round knockout and both had Shahbazyan and O'Neill. Pipp also cashed with Tsarukyan, Despaigne and Brito in round one. The betting side was a different story. Sharaf by KO at +2000, the live Sharaf bet, a round-one hedge on Brito and an auto cash-out on a live Tuivasa bet turned 7.9 units risked into more than 25 units back, making it our best night of the year.

Looking Ahead

UFC 331 cleared up the flyweight picture: Van is the real deal, and Kape is waiting. It also made Tsarukyan's title case impossible to ignore. Sharaf has a following now, and O'Neill has her callout. Next up among the numbered events is UFC 332 on Oct. 3, where Natália Silva and Wang Cong fight for the vacant women's flyweight title.

Stay tuned as we keep breaking down the road ahead for the fighters of UFC 331.