Flyweight champion Joshua Van will fight Alexandre Pantoja for the belt in the main event at UFC 331 on Sept. 19 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the promotion announced Wednesday.
This will be a rematch after Van defeated Pantoja at UFC 323 for the title. Pantoja suffered an elbow injury just 23 seconds into the fight, resulting in a KO/TKO decision.
Van is entering the bout on a seven-fight win streak with his last action a fifth-round knockout victory in a title defense versus Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328.
Pantoja has not stepped into the Octagon since the elbow injury. He previously defended the title four times, with his most recent victory coming over Kai Kara-France via a rear-naked choke in the third round at UFC 317.
Arman Tsarukyan will face off against Mauricio Ruffy in a five-round lightweight bout in the co-main event. Tsarukyan is the No. 2-ranked contender in the division, but hasn't fought since a second-round submission win over Dan Hooker in November. The 29-year-old holds a 10-2 record in the UFC.
Ruffy is coming off a first-round TKO victory over Michael Chandler at UFC Freedom 250. He's the No. 7-ranked lightweight fighter and holds a 5-1 UFC record with four knockout victories.
Doo Ho Choi vs. Patricio Freire, Renato Moicano vs. Brian Ortega, Iwo Baraniewski vs. Alonzo Menifield, and Sean Sharaf vs. Gable Steveson are other bouts on the UFC 331 card.
