UFC 331 in Pakistan: Van vs Pantoja 2 starts 6am Sunday, full card and times

UFC 331 runs at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday 19 September, which means the whole thing lands on Sunday morning in Pakistan. Joshua Van defends the flyweight title against Alexandre Pantoja in a rematch, and Arman Tsarukyan returns against Mauricio Ruffy in a five-round lightweight co-main.

Start times in Pakistan

Pakistan is nine hours ahead of US Eastern time, so a Saturday evening card in America is a Sunday dawn card here.

• Early prelims: 5pm ET Saturday, which is 2am PKT Sunday 20 September
• Prelims: 7pm ET Saturday, which is 4am PKT Sunday
• Main card: 9pm ET Saturday, which is 6am PKT Sunday

The main event walkouts do not happen at the start of the main card. On a five-fight main card the title fight usually begins somewhere around two and a half to three hours in, so Van and Pantoja should be walking out between 8am and 9am PKT, subject to how many fights end early.

The main card

• Joshua Van vs Alexandre Pantoja 2, flyweight title, 125lbs
• Arman Tsarukyan vs Mauricio Ruffy, lightweight, five rounds
• Patricio Pitbull vs Doo Ho Choi, featherweight
• Renato Moicano vs Brian Ortega 2, lightweight
• Iwo Baraniewski vs Alonzo Menifield, light heavyweight

The prelims

• Gable Steveson vs Sean Sharaf, heavyweight
• Charles Jourdain vs Marlon Vera, bantamweight
• Tai Tuivasa vs Robelis Despaigne, heavyweight
• Michael Aswell Jr vs Joo Sang Yoo, featherweight

The early prelims

• Giga Chikadze vs Joanderson Brito, featherweight
• Casey O'Neill vs Eduarda Moura, women's flyweight
• Edmen Shahbazyan vs Brunno Ferreira, middleweight
• Ryan Gandra vs Ozzy Diaz, middleweight

What is actually at stake

Van took the belt from Pantoja and now has to prove it was not a one-off. Pantoja held the flyweight title through a long run of defences before that, and a rematch win puts him straight back on top of a division he owned.

Tsarukyan is the more interesting fight for anyone watching the lightweight picture. He has been out and is ranked at the top of the division, and Ruffy is the kind of finisher who makes a comeback fight dangerous. A Tsarukyan win puts him back in the title conversation immediately.

The heavyweight prelim between Tai Tuivasa and Robelis Despaigne is the one most likely to end in the first round.

One fight that is not on this card: the Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes women's bantamweight title bout was planned for UFC 331 and has been postponed.

Watching it here

Paramount+ carries every portion of the card, early prelims through main event. Check what is available on your own subscription before Sunday morning, because the platform's availability is not the same in every country and a 6am start is a bad time to find out you cannot log in.

If you are planning to stay up or set an alarm, the useful number is the 6am PKT main card start, with the title fight later than that, not at it.