UFC 331: Van vs Pantoja 2

Twenty-six seconds is not an answer

At UFC 323 on 6 December 2025, Joshua Van took the flyweight title from Alexandre Pantoja by TKO at 0:26 of round one, after Pantoja's arm gave way. A belt changed hands before either man had thrown anything meaningful. That is the entire case for UFC 331, and it is a good one.

Van is 24, holds Burmese and American nationality, and arrives at 17-2. Pantoja, 30-6, spent years as the division's most durable problem — twelve of those wins are submissions — and gets an immediate shot at the man who took his title in less than half a minute.

Card as announced by UFC on 17 August 2026. Bouts move; check the event page before you plan your morning.

Date, venue and Japan time

• Local: Saturday 19 September 2026, Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles
• Japan: Sunday 20 September 2026 — the main card lands in the JST morning

Japan is UTC+9 with no daylight saving, so JST runs 13 hours ahead of US Eastern in September. Apply +13 to the start time published on the card's own page rather than assuming a fixed hour, and remember the Japanese date is one day later than the US date. The full explanation is in How to Watch UFC in Japan.

Co-main: Tsarukyan vs Ruffy

Arman Tsarukyan vs Mauricio Ruffy is scheduled for five rounds at lightweight — a five-round non-title fight is UFC's way of saying the winner is next in line for something.

Full announced card

Main card

• Joshua Van vs Alexandre Pantoja — flyweight title
• Arman Tsarukyan vs Mauricio Ruffy — lightweight
• Patricio Pitbull vs Dooho Choi — featherweight
• Renato Moicano vs Brian Ortega — lightweight
• Alonzo Menifield vs Iwo Baraniewski — light heavyweight

Preliminary card

• Gable Steveson vs Sean Sharaf — heavyweight
• Marlon Vera vs Charles Jourdain — bantamweight
• Tai Tuivasa vs Robelis Despaigne — heavyweight
• Edmen Shahbazyan vs Brunno Ferreira — middleweight

Early preliminary card

• Giga Chikadze vs Joanderson Brito — featherweight
• Casey O'Neill vs Eduarda Moura — women's flyweight
• Ryan Gandra vs Ozzy Diaz — middleweight
• Michael Aswell Jr. vs JooSang Yoo — featherweight

Around the card

Where UFC 331 sits in the rest of the year — including UFC 332 in Salt Lake City and UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi — is laid out in the UFC 2026 schedule hub. The most recent numbered card was UFC 330: Makhachev vs Machado Garry. If the scoring or the divisions need explaining, see how MMA scoring works and the MMA weight classes guide.