No fluke: Joshua Van solidifies title reign at UFC 331 after Gable Steveson is stunned

LOS ANGELES — There was no fluke this time around in Saturday night’s featherweight title bout between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja.

Van retained the title with a unanimous-decision victory over Pantoja in the main event of UFC 331 at Crypto.com Arena.

It was a back-and-forth affair that saw Van get an upper hand in many exchanges while Pantoja was able to get the fight to the ground, but not do much with the takedowns.

Van had first taken the title from Pantoja last December in Las Vegas when Pantoja suffered a shoulder injury trying to get off the mat just seconds into the fight.

They have exchanged barbs about the legitimacy of Van’s title reign ever since, but Saturday’s result should settle the debate for now.

“A lot of people said it was an accident last time,” Van said. “Doubt me now.”

The night belonged to Sean Sharaf and Arman Tsarukyan, however.

After dropping his first two UFC bouts, Sharaf landed a crushing left hook on Olympic wrestling gold medalist Gable Steveson to record the third-fastest knockout in heavyweight division history just 12 seconds into the first round.

Sharaf was a 10-to-1 underdog to the two-time national champion from Minnesota.

“I’m not surprised, (expletives),” he said, channeling the infamous Nate Diaz quote. “I feel amazing. I worked so hard. I prayed so hard. I believed in myself when nobody else would. I want to thank you all for your support.

“I knew I had the power. I just had to believe in myself.”

Sharaf was the fan favorite coming into the fight after publicly calling out Steveson for evading a 2019 sexual assault allegation for which he was never formally charged, referring to him as “Loophole.” Steveson was loudly booed as he walked to the cage and jeered as he retreated back to the locker room after the loss.

Tsarukyan also ignited a frenzy in the arena with a spectacular knockout of Mauricio Ruffy that is likely to earn him a title shot.

It wasn’t easy, though. Tsarukyan’s eye was swollen and appeared to be closing as the first round progressed, but he never had to go back to the corner.

In the closing seconds of the first round, he dropped Ruffy with a left elbow only to catch him on the way down and land a right elbow to finish the fight at 4:56.

Tsarukyan has now won six straight fights and been the top contender at lightweight for two years only to be passed over for championship bouts.

“I knew I needed a finish, and I was going to finish him,” Tsarukyan said.

Veteran light heavyweight Alonzo Menifield battled through a gnarly hand injury to earn a split-decision victory over Iwo Baraniewski.

The ringside physician entered the cage before the start of the third round to take a look at Menifield’s thumb, which appeared to be hanging off his hand. When the fight was allowed to continue, Menifield took advantage by getting to the scorecards and earning the favor of two judges for his fourth win in five fights.

Also on the main card, former two-division Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull improved to 2-2 in the UFC and recorded his first knockout in the organization when he finished Choi Doo-hoo with a barrage of punches and elbows at 3:28 of the opening round.

On the preliminary card, popular heavyweight Tai Tuivasa had his losing streak extended to eight with a split-decision loss to Robelis Despaigne.

It was a similar outcome for Michael Aswell Jr., who got the nod on two of three scorecards in his featherweight bout against Yoo Joo-sang.

Former bantamweight title challenger Marlon Vera prompted Charles Jourdain to tap due to strikes with a battering in the third round and middleweight Ryan Gandra knocked out Osman Diaz 2:04 into the first round.

Los Angeles native Edmen Shahbazyan, who now lives and trains in Las Vegas, won his fourth fight in five tries with a unanimous decision over Brunno Ferreira.

Women’s flyweight veteran Casey O’Nell needed just 3:22 to submit Eduarda Moura and featherweight Joanderson Brito knocked out Giga Chikadze in 1:57 to kick off the card.