Dana White and the Ultimate Fighting Championship will present UFC 330: Makhachev vs. Machado Garry later tonight from the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This event will lead the roster to several upcoming Fight Night cards, and the promotion’s Los Angeles return on September 19 from the Crypto.com Arena for UFC 331: Van vs. Pantoja II.
With the MMA promotion in “The City of Brotherly Love” this weekend, White hosted the first UFC 331 press conference on Friday amid buzz for tonight’s main event bout between Ian Machado Garry and Islam Makhachev, the defending UFC welterweight champion.
Coming out of the press conference, the most viral topic of discussion seems to be the heat between Arman Tsarukyan and Maurio Ruffy.
UFC 331 will be headlined by Joshua Van defending the flyweight championship against Alexandre Pantoja in a rematch from their UFC 323 bout last December, which saw “The Fearless” secure his first reign with the flyweight championship via TKO (arm injury) at 0:26 in the first round. However, it’s now confirmed that the UFC 331 co-main event will see Tsarukyan battle Ruffy in a five-round lightweight battle.
“Ahalkalakets” and Ruffy are hoping to secure a lightweight championship opportunity with a potential win at UFC 331. The stakes were clear at Friday’s presser when White had to prevent any sort of chaos, specifically making sure Tsarukyan did not do anything crazy.
Seen below, the UFC CEO quickly intervened when Ruffy and Tsarukyan came together for the first time on Friday, leading to a brief pull-apart.
The heat between Van and Pantoja also picked up at the press conference for UFC 331. The big event on September 19 will mark the promotion’s sixth trip to “The City of Angels”, and its first since UFC 227 in August 2018.
Below is the current line-up for UFC 331: Van vs. Pantoja II, which will air on Paramount+.
MAIN CARD
- Joshua Van (c) vs. Alexandre Pantoja – UFC Flyweight Championship
- Arman Tsarukyan vs. Maurício Ruffy
- Patrício Pitbull vs. Choi Doo-ho
- Renato Moicano vs. Brian Ortega
- Alonzo Menifield vs. Iwo Baraniewski
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Gable Steveson vs. Sean Sharaf
- Marlon Vera vs. Charles Jourdain
- Tai Tuivasa vs. Robelis Despaigne
- Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Brunno Ferreira
EARLY PRELIMINARY CARD
- Giga Chikadze vs. Joanderson Brito
- Casey O’Neill vs. Eduarda Moura
- Ryan Gandra vs. Osman Diaz
- Michael Aswell Jr. vs. Yoo Joo-sang
![Ain’t this what they’ve been waiting for...
[ #UFC330 | LIVE SAT AUG 15 | 9pmET on @paramountplus ] https://t.co/N4m5694G1b](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HPuIHGnXoAEMFEL?format=jpg&name=small)