Van beats Pantoja to retain UFC flyweight title
Joshua Van retained his flyweight title with a commanding unanimous decision win over Alexandre Pantoja in their rematch at UFC 331 in Los Angeles.
The 24-year-old from Myanmar beat Brazilian Pantoja in December 2025 after Pantoja suffered an accidental elbow dislocation 26 seconds into the fight.
Van, the first UFC champion born in the 2000s, defended the belt against Tatsuro Taira in May but can now claim to be the best in the division after soundly beating 36-year-old Pantoja again.
"A lot of people said that was an accidental win, well, doubt me now," Van said after extending his professional MMA record to 18 wins and two losses.
Pantoja took Van down in the first round, before landing heavy punches and knees in a fiery exchange, as Van retaliated with a slicing elbow.
Van, who moved to the United States when he was 12, then peppered Pantoja with jabs in the second round, and rocked the Brazilian with a fluid combination of punches in the third.
Pantoja controlled the fourth round after securing an early takedown but was unable to pass Van's guard and failed to find an opening to submit the champion.
In the final round, Van stalked Pantoja and knocked him down with an overhand right, securing the win on the judges' scorecards.
Tsarukyan stops Ruffy to make title claim
Arman Tsarukyan called for a shot at lightweight champion Justin Gaethje after earning a stunning first-round knockout win over Mauricio Ruffy in the co-main event.
Earlier this week, Armenian-Russian Tsarukyan said UFC president Dana White had promised the winner would be next in line to face Gaethje.
Tsarukyan was due to face former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 311 in January 2025, but withdrew just 24 hours before the bout with a back injury.
The 29-year-old stopped Brazilian Ruffy with two brutal elbows in the final seconds of the opening round to improve his record to 24 wins and three defeats.
"I needed the finish to get a title shot," Tsarukyan said after the fight.
Meanwhile, Scotland-born Australian Casey O'Neill also won on the night, beating Eduarda Moura with an armbar submission.
O'Neill spent 17 months out of action with a serious knee injury between August 2024 and March 2026, but has impressed with back-to-back stoppage victories since returning.
The 28-year-old flyweight escaped a submission attempt from Moura, before flipping the Brazilian over her head and smoothly transitioning into an armbar to secure victory.
It is O'Neill's seventh win since signing for the UFC in 2021, having lost two of her nine fights with the organisation.
Gane and Hokit headline as Nunes returns at UFC 334
During Saturday's broadcast the line-up for UFC 334, which takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York on 14 November, was confirmed.
Interim heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane, 36, will face Josh Hokit for the undisputed title after it was vacated by Briton Tom Aspinall.
Gane beat Alex Pereira to win the interim heavyweight title in June.
The Frenchman has failed to claim the undisputed heavyweight belt in three previous attempts, losing to Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones, while his fight with Aspinall ended in a no-contest because of several eye-pokes.
American Hokit, 28, is undefeated in 10 professional contests and has won four of his five trips to the UFC octagon inside the distance.
Bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison makes the first defence of her title against two-weight champion Amanda Nunes in the co-main event.
Harrison, 36, and Brazilian Nunes, 38, were set to meet at UFC 324 in January but the American withdrew after sustaining a neck injury.
Nunes, who is also a former featherweight champion, vacated the bantamweight belt when she retired after beating Irene Aldana in June 2023.
She is widely regarded as the greatest ever women's mixed martial artist and is the only woman to have held titles in two divisions in the promotion.
Harrison joined the UFC in 2024 and has won all three of her contests, with two of those victories coming via submission.
The two-time Olympic judo gold medallist submitted Julianna Pena in June to win the bantamweight title.
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