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Arman Tsarukyan will not face Charles Oliveira in a rematch at UFC 331. Instead, he is set to clash with Mauricio Ruffy.
After weeks of speculation regarding a potential rematch between Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) and Oliveira for the September 19 event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the organization announced on Wednesday that Ruffy (14-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) will be his opponent in the five-round co-main event.
BMF titleholder Oliveira (37-11 MMA, 25-11 UFC) publicly expressed his grief online following the shocking recent death of his longtime teammate, UFC flyweight Alan Nascimento. This may explain his absence from UFC 331.
Ruffy enters the bout against Tsarukyan with significant momentum, boasting two consecutive knockout victories over Michael Chandler and Rafael Fiziev.
Tsarukyan returns to the same city where he withdrew from his scheduled UFC 311 lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev on weigh-in day in January 2025. Since then, he has competed only once in MMA, defeating Dan Hooker via submission at UFC Fight Night 265 in Qatar last November. However, he has been exceptionally active in wrestling matches under the RAF banner, as well as numerous other grappling bouts.
The current fight card for UFC 331 includes:
Joshua Van vs. Alexandre Pantoja
Renato Moicano vs. Brian Ortega
Patricio Pitbull vs. Dooho Choi
Alonzo Menifield vs. Ivo Baraniewski
Gable Steveson vs. Sean Sharaf
Marlon Vera vs. Charles Jourdain
Tai Tuivasa vs. Dobelis Despaigne
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