The full main card for UFC 331 on September 19th, 2026 has finally been revealed and features the return of top ranked Arman Tsarukyan … against Mauricio Ruffy? For weeks multiple reports had Tsarukyan facing Charles Oliveira in a rematch of their hotly contested UFC 300 fight. Instead, “Akhalkalakets” will face the flashy Brazilian striker who most recently trounced Michael Chandler at the White House in June.
While the match-up feels somewhat random, Ruffy is certainly taking it seriously. He sees it as an opportunity to jump from the bottom of the top 10 (No. 7 according to the Media Panel Rankings and No. 10 according to the Meta Rankings) right into a title shot.
“Winning this fight takes us straight to the title,” Ruffy declared in a new social media post. “I don’t feel pressure at all. I feel privileged, very grateful to God for this. I’m going there for the knockout, I don’t want to leave the octagon without that result. If it’s not that, so be it, but I’m 100% committed to it.”
Ruffy built his career up as part of the Fighting Nerds, but announced back in May that he was no longer with the team. He now trains with Alexander Volkanovski and Joe Lopez at Freestyle MMA.
“I’m going to Australia to do the full camp there,” Ruffy said. “I’ll be offline, I won’t be responding much here, I’ll just be focused on training.”
Ruffy will have a lot to prepare for. Tsarukyan is considered one of the best wrestlers in the UFC and an extremely dangerous submission specialist. Ruffy has shown a weakness in that area, getting tapped out by Benoit Saint Denis a year ago in Paris. Spending the next six weeks in Australia with Alexander Volkanovski will undoubtedly help, but will it help enough?
