Fight Week Weekend Winners & Losers: Sean Sharaf Shocks UFC 331, Joshua Van Leaves No Doubt
Combat sports delivered exactly what makes weekends like this unpredictable.
A massive UFC favorite was knocked out in 12 seconds. A young champion finally got the definitive victory he needed. A Mexican action star delivered another knockout. And one of boxing’s fastest-rising prospects turned his first major championship opportunity into another stoppage.
Here are Fight Week’s Weekend Winners & Losers from September 19–20.
WEEKEND WINNERS
WINNER: Sean Sharaf
Sometimes one punch changes everything.
Sean Sharaf entered UFC 331 as a massive underdog against Olympic wrestling gold medalist Gable Steveson.
Twelve seconds later, it was over.
Sharaf landed a left hand that knocked Steveson out cold, handing the highly touted heavyweight prospect his first professional MMA loss and scoring his own first UFC victory. The UFC later awarded Sharaf a special bonus while describing the result as one of the promotion’s largest upsets.
And yes — Fight Week had Steveson winning with 9/10 confidence Friday.
That’s why they fight.
Sharaf didn’t need to worry about Steveson’s Olympic wrestling pedigree, takedowns or future potential. He landed before any of it mattered.
Fight Week Verdict: Twelve seconds changed Sharaf from UFC underdog to one of the most talked-about heavyweights of the weekend.
WINNER: Joshua Van
The first Joshua Van-Alexandre Pantoja fight didn’t give anyone a satisfying answer.
The rematch did.
Van defeated Pantoja by unanimous decision — 49-46, 48-47 and 50-45 — to successfully defend the UFC flyweight championship in the UFC 331 main event in Los Angeles.
Pantoja tested him.
He wrestled.
He pressured.
He even put Van on the canvas during the championship rounds.
But Van continually found his way back to his boxing, and in the fifth round the 24-year-old champion dropped Pantoja and finished the fight in control. The UFC awarded Van-Pantoja Fight of the Night.
The strange ending to their first meeting can now be put aside.
Van beat Pantoja over 25 minutes.
Fight Week Verdict: This was the validation fight. Joshua Van is no longer champion because of an unfortunate injury in their first meeting. He’s champion because he beat Alexandre Pantoja.
WINNER: Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz
Isaac Cruz fights rarely become boring.
Saturday was no exception.
Cruz stopped Nestor Bravo in the sixth round in San Diego, retaining his interim WBC super lightweight championship after a rough, foul-filled fight. Cruz had already dropped Bravo in the opening round before a left hook ended the contest at 1:30 of Round 6.
The fight wasn’t always pretty.
There was holding, wrestling, warnings and point deductions.
But when it came time to settle things with punches, Cruz did exactly that.
Afterward, Pitbull called out Ryan Garcia, adding another potentially significant name to the growing list of possibilities at 140 and 147 pounds.
Fight Week Verdict: Another knockout, another title defense and another major fight potentially waiting. Productive night for Pitbull.
WINNER: Arman Tsarukyan
Arman Tsarukyan didn’t simply beat Mauricio Ruffy.
He eliminated him from the equation.
Tsarukyan knocked Ruffy out with elbows at 4:56 of the first round, extending his winning streak to six and strengthening his claim to the next UFC lightweight title opportunity.
Ruffy’s striking was supposed to present the danger.
It did early.
Then Tsarukyan adapted, mixed in his wrestling and eventually landed the devastating elbows that ended the fight.
The UFC awarded Tsarukyan a Performance of the Night bonus.
Fight Week Verdict: Statement made. There isn’t much more Tsarukyan can do except wait for a championship opportunity.
WINNER: Pat Brown
Fight Week put Pat Brown on Prospect Watch last Tuesday.
He justified it Saturday.
Brown stopped previously unbeaten John Hedges in the sixth round in Manchester to capture the British and Commonwealth cruiserweight championships in just his seventh professional fight. He improved to 7-0 with seven stoppages.
Hedges gave Brown problems early with his southpaw style and counterpunching.
Brown eventually found the answer.
Two punishing left hands to the body produced two knockdowns in Round 6, with Hedges unable to beat the count after the second.
Fight Week Verdict: He’s graduating from Prospect Watch quickly. Seven fights. Seven stoppages. Two major domestic belts.
STOCK UP: Marlon “Chito” Vera
This one was badly needed.
Vera entered UFC 331 riding a four-fight losing streak and hadn’t won since August 2023.
He responded by stopping Charles Jourdain at 2:02 of the third round. Vera steadily increased the pressure before overwhelming Jourdain late and finally returning to the win column.
Fight Week Verdict: Chito wasn’t fighting for a championship Saturday. He may have been fighting to keep his relevance. He delivered.
WEEKEND LOSERS
LOSER: Gable Steveson
There isn’t any way to soften this one.
Gable Steveson entered UFC 331 undefeated, carrying enormous expectations and as an overwhelming betting favorite.
He left 12 seconds later with his first professional MMA loss.
Sharaf’s left hand ended the fight before Steveson could demonstrate the Olympic-level wrestling that made him such an intriguing heavyweight prospect.
One knockout doesn’t determine a fighter’s entire career — especially this early.
But when expectations are that high, the fall is going to attract attention.
Fight Week Verdict: Now we learn something we hadn’t learned during four victories: how Steveson responds to adversity.
LOSER: Nestor Bravo
Bravo had the dimensions to potentially make Isaac Cruz uncomfortable.
He couldn’t keep Pitbull away.
The fight gradually became increasingly physical and messy, with Bravo receiving multiple warnings and point deductions before Cruz ended matters with a sixth-round left hook.
Bravo entered with only one professional defeat and had never been knocked out.
Both of those facts changed Saturday night.
Fight Week Verdict: Against Pitbull Cruz, being bigger doesn’t matter much if you can’t stop him from turning the fight into his kind of battle.
LOSER: Mauricio Ruffy
Ruffy had one of the fastest-rising profiles in the UFC lightweight division.
Then he ran into Arman Tsarukyan.
Tsarukyan weathered Ruffy’s early striking threat and knocked him unconscious with elbows just four seconds before the end of the first round.
This doesn’t erase Ruffy’s potential.
It does demonstrate just how significant the jump becomes when a dangerous striker reaches the absolute elite of the UFC lightweight division.
Fight Week Verdict: Ruffy remains dangerous. Tsarukyan showed there are still levels to climb.
LOSER: John Hedges
John Hedges came into Manchester undefeated at 12-0.
He left without the zero.
Hedges actually had success early against Pat Brown, using his southpaw stance and counterpunching to make the Olympian work. But Brown gradually closed the distance and finished him with body shots in Round 6.
For Hedges, the loss hurts because more than an undefeated record was at stake.
So were the British and Commonwealth championships.
Fight Week Verdict: Hedges had his moments, but Brown’s pressure and power eventually became too much.
LOSER: Charles Jourdain
Jourdain entered UFC 331 moving in the opposite direction from Marlon Vera.
Jourdain was looking for another victory.
Vera desperately needed one.
By the third round, it was obvious whose urgency had taken over the fight. Vera battered Jourdain with strikes until Jourdain signaled that he couldn’t continue.
Fight Week Verdict: A major missed opportunity. Beating a former UFC title challenger would have pushed Jourdain’s momentum considerably higher.
LOSS ON PAPER, STILL ELITE: Alexandre Pantoja
Alexandre Pantoja lost.
But there’s an important difference between losing and being finished as a championship-level fighter.
Pantoja gave Joshua Van a legitimate five-round test. He had success with his grappling, put the champion on the canvas in Round 4 and continued pressing until Van pulled away late. The UFC recognized the battle as Fight of the Night.
At 36, the question becomes whether Pantoja can work his way back to another championship opportunity.
But nothing Saturday suggested he suddenly stopped being one of the world’s best flyweights.
Fight Week Verdict: Loss on paper. Still elite.
Fight Week’s Biggest Winner of the Weekend
SEAN SHARAF
Joshua Van defended a UFC championship.
Isaac Cruz retained his belt.
Pat Brown became British and Commonwealth champion.
Arman Tsarukyan strengthened his case for a title shot.
But none of them produced a moment as shocking as Sean Sharaf.
Twelve seconds.
That’s all it took to knock out an undefeated Olympic gold medalist whom oddsmakers had installed as an enormous favorite.
Before Saturday night, most of the conversation surrounding this fight was about Gable Steveson’s future.
After Saturday night, everyone knows Sean Sharaf’s name.
Sean Sharaf is Fight Week’s biggest winner of the weekend.
Another weekend down.
Champions validated themselves. Prospects became champions. Favorites crashed back to earth.
And once again, combat sports reminded everyone why you have to actually fight the fights.
Check back every Sunday for Fight Week Weekend Winners & Losers.
