UFC 331 Eve: Van-Pantoja 2, Tsarukyan's Title Promise, Pyfer Locks In

We summarize the day's news in our own words. Full credit to the outlets below for the original reporting, click through to read their work:

• Main Card Results | Crypto.com UFC 331: Van vs Pantoja 2 (UFC News)
• Prelim Results | Crypto.com UFC 331: Van vs Pantoja 2 (UFC News)
• Official Scorecards | Crypto.com UFC 331: Van vs Pantoja 2 (UFC News)
• Undefeated with lightning-fast victories, Ryan Gandra targets R$ 515k bonus at UFC 331 (Ag. Fight (BR))
• Tsarukyan reveals UFC promise for title shot if he beats Ruffy (Ag. Fight (BR))
• Seeking redemption at UFC 331, Patrício Pitbull plans a comeback: “No more losses” (Ag. Fight (BR))
• UFC 331 weigh-in video: Van vs. Pantoja 2 (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• UFC Freedom 250 regulator reacts to Ilia Topuria’s claim about Justin Gaethje’s gloves (Bloody Elbow)
• Khamzat Chimaev goes after judges and calls for a UFC title shot (BJPenn.com)
• ONE Friday Fights 171 & The Inner Circle 31 Live Stream and Results (Cageside Press)
• Joshua Van all smiles during tense faceoff with Alexandre Pantoja ahead of UFC 331 (MMA Fighting)
• Gable Steveson Says Agreement With Jon Jones Rules Out UFC Fight After Return (MiddleEasy)
• Alonzo Menifield vs. Iwo Baraniewski: UFC 331 AI Prediction, Results and Highlights (Yahoo Sports MMA)
• Patricio Pitbull ‘hasn’t liked’ any of his UFC performances, vows to ‘show my potential’ at UFC 331 (MMA Mania)

Welcome to Open Scoring MMA. This is episode 92 for September 18th, 2026, your daily look at what's happening now and next across the world of MMA and UFC. DUKE: Nora, tomorrow night in LA we get Joshua Van defending that flyweight strap against Alexandre Pantoja in the rematch, and both guys made weight clean at today's weigh in.
NORA: Along with Arman Tsarukyan and Mauricio Ruffy for the co main, so the full top of the card is official and ready to go.
DUKE: And Van was all smiles at the faceoff, which is wild given how tense these two have been in the buildup.
NORA: That's actually notable. A champion who's relaxed on fight week, staring down the guy he already beat, that's a confidence tell. Van's carrying himself like this belongs to him now.
DUKE: Pantoja's gonna have something to say about that on Saturday.
NORA: He always does. This is a rubber match at the highest level of the division, whoever wins probably owns flyweight cleanly for a while.
DUKE: Now the co main might actually be the more fascinating story. Tsarukyan says the UFC flat out promised him a title shot if he gets past Ruffy.
NORA: Which flips the whole framing of this fight. Everybody called this a bad risk reward gig for Tsarukyan, a live dog with nothing to gain.
DUKE: And he's saying no, there's a strap on the other side of this.
NORA: If that's real, this is now a de facto number one contender fight at lightweight, not a gatekeeper trap. Huge stakes for both men.
DUKE: Okay, let's talk about the rest of this card, because there's a guy on it who might be the most efficient finisher in the sport right now.
NORA: Ryan Gandra. Two octagon appearances, two wins, under two minutes of combined fight time.
DUKE: Under two minutes total, that's absurd.
NORA: And here's the funny part, he's actually a little frustrated about it. He's chasing that bonus money at UFC 331 because his performances have been so quick the paychecks haven't caught up to the highlight reel.
DUKE: Can't fault the guy, blink and you miss both of his UFC wins.
NORA: If he does it again this fast against this level of competition, he's climbing the featherweight conversation in a hurry.
DUKE: Speaking of featherweight, Patricio Pitbull is on this card too, and he is not happy with where his UFC run has gone.
NORA: He said he hasn't liked any of his UFC performances and he's vowing to finally show his real potential against Doo Ho Choi.
DUKE: That's a heavy admission from a guy with his resume outside the UFC.
NORA: It is. He's framed this fight in blunt terms too, saying no more losses. For a legend like Pitbull, this is about proving he still belongs at this level, not just staying employed.
DUKE: If he doesn't get it done here, the questions about his future only get louder.
NORA: Right, this is as close to a defining fight as you get for a guy at his stage of a career.
DUKE: Let's shift to injuries and status, because Gable Steveson dropped something interesting about Jon Jones.
NORA: Steveson says the two of them have an agreement, they simply are not fighting each other, even if Jones comes back while Steveson's still climbing the heavyweight ladder.
DUKE: That's a strange thing to lock in ahead of time.
NORA: It tells you Steveson's not treating Jones as a stepping stone target the way a lot of hungry heavyweights would. He's playing a longer, more careful game with his own trajectory.
DUKE: Fair enough, no need to chase a fight that isn't there.
NORA: Exactly, save the energy for matchups that actually move him up the ladder.
DUKE: Alright, callouts and beefs. Khamzat Chimaev is out here going after the judges and calling for a title shot.
NORA: That's Chimaev being Chimaev. He's not shy about where he thinks he stands, and he wants the shortest possible path to gold.
DUKE: Does he have the résumé to skip the line right now?
NORA: That's the debate. He's clearly elite, but calling out judges publicly and demanding a title shot is more pressure campaign than official booking at this point.
DUKE: We'll see if the UFC bites. Now here's a wilder one, Ilia Topuria accused Justin Gaethje of doing something shady with his gloves at UFC Freedom 250.
NORA: And a regulator at that event directly shut the claim down.
DUKE: So that's dead on arrival.
NORA: Looks like it. Topuria's got a habit of throwing out these charged claims, but when an actual official on site says it didn't happen, that's about as clean a denial as you get.
DUKE: Doesn't stop it from being a headline for a day, though.
NORA: No, but it shouldn't follow Gaethje into anything real.
DUKE: Let's bounce around the combat sports world for a second. Colby Covington defended his RAF cruiserweight crossover title against Belal Muhammad tonight in Miami.
NORA: Covington came in undefeated in that promotion, four and oh, and hadn't lost there yet. This is a real rivalry renewed outside the UFC cage.
DUKE: That crossover stuff keeps pulling in UFC names, it's becoming its own little ecosystem.
NORA: It is, and it keeps both guys relevant even outside the octagon conversation.
DUKE: Over in Thailand, ONE Friday Fights and the Inner Circle ran a card at Lumpinee Stadium, with a hundred thousand dollar contract on the line for an unsigned winner.
NORA: That's a life changing number for a fighter without a deal. ONE's been aggressive about using these one off contract incentives to pull talent into their system.
DUKE: Smart way to build a pipeline. Now Nora, the Reddit community's got something fun going too, over on r slash MMA.
NORA: They're buzzing about EFC 137, where bantamweight champion Faeez Jacobs is jumping up to featherweight to challenge Chadrack Yemba and chase double champ status.
DUKE: Double champ hunts always get people talking, no matter the promotion.
NORA: They do, it's one of those storylines fans just can't help clicking on.
DUKE: Alright, let's get into the banter, because I've got thoughts on this Tsarukyan title shot promise.
NORA: Go.
DUKE: I don't buy it as a real guarantee. Promotions say stuff like that all the time and then move the goalposts.
NORA: Sometimes, but Tsarukyan's specifically the guy saying it, not a promoter dangling a carrot.
DUKE: Sure, but he's also the one with the incentive to make Ruffy sound bigger than he is.
NORA: That's fair. Though if Tsarukyan finishes Ruffy in dominant fashion, the UFC doesn't have much of a leg to stand on if they duck the promise.
DUKE: True, a statement win kind of forces their hand.
NORA: Right, and lightweight's thin at the top of the contender list right now anyway.
DUKE: So really this fight decides more than people gave it credit for.
NORA: Way more. That risk reward take everyone had was wrong.
DUKE: I'll say it, I was one of those people.
NORA: Noted.
DUKE: Okay, now let's get to our pick of the week. Rockhold and Pyfer.
NORA: Joseph Pyfer over Luke Rockhold, we've got him at around ninety four percent.
DUKE: Ninety four. And the betting line's got Pyfer at what, minus two thousand?
NORA: Which implies about ninety one percent. So we're a little higher than the market, not a massive gap, but we're leaning in harder.
DUKE: Talk me into it beyond the odds.
NORA: Rockhold's one and four in his last five, three straight losses by knockout.
DUKE: That's brutal for a former champion.
NORA: It is, and his durability is the real concern now, not his skill set. Pyfer's the exact opposite trend, three fight win streak, every one of them a finish.
DUKE: So one guy's chin is cracking and the other guy's finishing everybody in front of him.
NORA: Exactly, and Pyfer's been more active too, two fights in the last year against Rockhold's one fight in three years.
DUKE: Rockhold's the legend here, but on paper this reads ugly for him.
NORA: It does. Given the finishing history on both losses and wins, we like this ending early, and we like Pyfer doing it.
DUKE: Alright, model's speaking, I'm listening.
NORA: As you should.
DUKE: Let's look ahead. After UFC 331 wraps tomorrow, Dana White's Contender Series Season Ten Week Seven runs Tuesday, that's in four days.
NORA: Norbert Novenyi Junior takes on Theo Haig, and Jaden Ortega meets Alvi Dasuyev on that card. Contender Series is always about who's auditioning for a real contract, not rankings.
DUKE: Always fun to spot the next name before everyone else does.
NORA: Then on September twenty sixth, UFC Fight Night brings Raoni Barcelos against Raul Rosas Junior, with Robert Bryczek facing Rodolfo Vieira on the same card.
DUKE: Rosas Junior's still one of the more scrutinized young names in the promotion, that's a real test for him.
NORA: It is, a step up fight that tells us a lot about where he's actually at.
DUKE: Big two weeks coming after tomorrow night, but first things first, Pantoja and Van settle it, Tsarukyan and Ruffy fight for a lot more than people thought.
NORA: That's the whole show right there.
DUKE: Alright, that's it for us today.
NORA: We'll be back with the fallout the moment UFC 331 is in the books.
One more thing before we go. Our call is Joseph Pyfer. If you're fading that, what do you see that we don't? And while you're here, two quick ones. Our free Fight Tracker is at tracker dot open scoring m m a dot com, with every upcoming UFC and PFL card, live odds, and where to watch, all in one place. And follow us on YouTube, just search Open Scoring MMA, for breaking news alerts, fight breakdowns, and videos you won't get here on the feed. That's it for today's Open Scoring MMA. Keep your hands up, and we'll see you next time.