Van has the belt. Pantoja gets another chance to take it back.

Twenty-six seconds settled who left with the belt. They told us very little about how Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja matched up. Saturday’s UFC 331 rematch gives them a chance to finish a fight that an elbow injury cut short.

They meet again Saturday night in Los Angeles at UFC 331. Both weighed 125 pounds for the flyweight title bout, according to UFC’s September 18 weigh-in report. The main card starts at 9 p.m. Eastern on Paramount+ in the United States.

Pantoja’s injury at UFC 323 cost him a championship he had successfully defended four times. Van got the belt, along with a debate he could do little to resolve that night. The result stands. So does the interest in seeing these two get a full opportunity to fight.

Van has since stopped Tatsuro Taira in the fifth round at UFC 328, according to UFC’s fight-week guide. That defense matters here. Calling Van a champion only because Pantoja got hurt leaves out a successful defense against a different challenger, earned over a much longer evening.

Two different things to prove

A decisive win over Pantoja would give Van something the Taira fight could not: a victory over the former champion that shifts the discussion away from the injury. Pantoja can reclaim the title, but his old championship record will not win this bout for him. Both have plenty at stake without treating a second meeting as a correction to the record book.

The Taira fight also changes how we should approach the rematch. Van has already won a title defense that reached the fifth round; he is not arriving with only the Pantoja result behind him. Pantoja’s task is to beat the champion in front of him now, nine months after their abbreviated first meeting.

The co-main event is Arman Tsarukyan against Mauricio Ruffy at lightweight. Paramount’s preview identifies them as the division’s No. 2 and No. 7 contenders. UFC lists the bout for five rounds, giving it the same scheduled distance as the championship fight. Ruffy has the higher-ranked opponent to chase; Tsarukyan has his place near the top to defend. Neither has an announced title shot attached to the result in those previews.

Watching from New York

The agreed official times are 7 p.m. Eastern for the prelims and 9 p.m. for the main card. Paramount+ carries the event in the United States. Nine o’clock is the start of the main card, not a promised walkout time for Van and Pantoja.

For the early prelims, check the broadcaster’s current listing: UFC’s weigh-in article says 5 p.m., while Paramount’s event preview says 5:30. The difference is worth flagging for anyone planning to watch from the first bout.