The two most intense rivalries on Saturday night’s UFC 331 card at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., are not the typical combat sports beefs.
While the main event combatants trade barbs about the proper way to celebrate a fluky outcome, a featured heavyweight bout has brought a past accusation back into focus.
The former beef has a bit less weight to it.
Alexandre Pantoja has a chance to retain the flyweight belt he lost to Joshua Van in the main event at T-Mobile Arena in December, a result Pantoja insists was a fluke.
Pantoja saw his eight-fight winning streak snapped when he suffered a dislocated shoulder just 26 seconds into his title fight with Van. Pantoja took exception to Van’s wild celebration and ensuing trash talk after the unsatisfying ending and while he was respectful in the immediate aftermath, Pantoja has grown more and more annoyed with Van’s victory lap. The tone started to turn on their rivalry in the ensuing weeks and really started to get contentious at a news conference last month.
“I’m from the ‘90s and in that time if you don’t respect your mother and father, they’re going to slap you,” Pantoja, 36, said of the 24-year-old Van this week as he reflected on what he deemed to be a disrespectful tone at that press event.
Van continues to laugh it off, particularly since both have always been known to be among the more congenial fighters in the sport.
“As far as I know, I’m his dad,” the champion laughed. “He’s trying to be the good guy and make me the bad guy. I’m just going to be myself.”
Saturday will mark the first time Pantoja has stepped in the cage since suffering the injury, which happened as he tried to brace himself on the mat. Van boosted his stature as champion by earning a spectacular fifth-round knockout win over Tatsuro Taira in May.
Now he has a chance to prove to any holdout doubters by beating Pantoja in a more decisive manner.
“In his mind, he beat me the first time,” Pantoja said. “But it is what it is. Saturday night he has the chance to prove it.”
The tension between heavyweights Sean Sharaf and Gable Steveson is even higher.
Steveson, one of the most-hyped prospects to ever enter the UFC, was a star wrestler at Minnesota when he and a teammate were arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. The two were ultimately not charged based on how the Minnesota laws were written at the time, an outcome that prompted updates to the state’s statutes.
Sharaf, a 10-to-1 underdog who is 0-2 in the UFC, has not shied away from bringing up the case, even referring to Steveson as “loophole.”
“That’s why everyone’s booing him,” Sharaf said of the 2019 incident at Thursday’s news conference. “You can’t do that (expletive). It’s wrong.”
Steveson was eventually reinstated to the wrestling team after the case was dismissed, and he went on to win two national titles and an Olympic gold medal.
He took a detour from combat sports after college after he was signed by the Buffalo Bills despite never having played football. Steveson, 26, was released after the preseason. He then had a brief stint in WWE before finally settling on a pursuit of mixed martial arts last year.
Steveson is 4-0 as a pro and won his UFC debut in July with a first-round knockout of Elisha Ellison.
The legal issues of his past have been a popular topic online, but Sharaf’s comments have brought a renewed focus.
Steveson appears unfazed.
“If a guy is going to bring up certain things, that’s the coward coming out of him,” Steveson said. “It’s a guy showing up of his own free will to say, ‘Hey, I’m a sacrificial lamb,’ and that’s what he’s going to be Saturday night.
“I’m here to win. I’m not here to joke around. I’m not here to (expletive) talk. I’m not here to be rude to anybody. I’m here to win and go home, and that’s my whole objective.”
The main card, which also includes a lightweight contender bout between Arman Tsarukyan and Mauricio Ruffy, streams live on Paramount+ at 6 p.m. Preliminary card bouts begin at 2 p.m.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
