UFC 331: Tsarukyan stops Ruffy with first-round elbow KO, edges closer to title shot

Decisive first-round knockout

On Saturday, September 19, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Armenia's Arman Tsarukyan (29) knocked out Brazil's Mauricio Ruffy in the UFC 331 co-main event, contested in the lightweight division (up to 70.3 kg). The finish, a devastating elbow strike against the cage, came at the 4:56 mark of the first round, according to MMA Junkie.

According to UOL, the bout was treated as a lightweight "title eliminator," and the win puts Tsarukyan back on a direct path toward a shot at the championship belt.

Ruffy was confident heading in

Before the fight, Ruffy — coming off an impressive win over Michael Chandler at UFC Freedom 250, held at the White House — said he saw the matchup as an "excellent pairing" and predicted he would knock Tsarukyan out, calling that outcome the perfect message that his next step should be a title fight. Heading into UFC 331, Ruffy's professional record stood at 14 wins and two losses, including six wins and one loss inside the UFC.

Per ge.globo, ahead of the fight Tsarukyan was ranked directly behind only Ilia Topuria and champion Justin Gaethje in the lightweight division, while MMA Junkie notes that Tsarukyan had spent the better part of the last two years as the division's No. 1-ranked contender.

A rocky start, then a violent finish

The fight was not one-sided throughout: a stiff right hand from Ruffy buckled Tsarukyan and caused significant swelling under his left eye, to the point that, per MMA Junkie, the bout might have been stopped had it reached the end of the round. Tsarukyan nonetheless produced the finish out of nowhere with a hellacious elbow against the cage.

Context and what's next

As UOL reports, Tsarukyan had recently found himself in a delicate position with UFC management after withdrawing from a title fight shortly before the event due to a back injury. MMA Junkie also notes that Tsarukyan had been passed over for a title shot since pulling out of a scheduled fight against Islam Makhachev in January 2025. It remains to be seen whether Dana White and the UFC will now have little choice but to book Tsarukyan against champion Justin Gaethje next.

Ruffy, meanwhile, must find a new route back toward the top of the lightweight division.

In the UFC 331 main event, Joshua Van faced fellow contender Alexandre Pantoja of Brazil in a flyweight (up to 56.7 kg) rematch, after Van's 2025 win came when Pantoja suffered an injury just 26 seconds into that fight.