Dana White announces undercard fights for UFC 331 including Jon Jones protege Gable Steveson

Renato Moicano, Brian Ortega, Gable Steveson and Tai Tuivasa are all set to fight at UFC 331.

On Wednesday, the UFC announced four undercard bouts for the Los Angeles show on September 19.

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The main event for UFC 331 wasn’t revealed, but the card is shaping up very well already.

Four fights confirmed for UFC 331

A lightweight bout between top-ranked stars Moicano and Ortega will decide who will push closer to getting a shot at the 155lbs title currently held by Justin Gaethje.

It was a rematch almost ten years in the making, with Moicano, the No.7-ranked lightweight, welcoming former UFC featherweight title challenger Ortega to the division for the first time.

The pair previously fought in July 2017 on the undercard of Daniel Cormier‘s rematch with Jon Jones at UFC 214, where Ortega submitted Moicano in round three.

Last time out, Moicano submitted Scotland’s Chris Duncan to cement his name as a contender at lightweight, having unsuccessfully challenged Islam Makhachev for the belt in January 2025.

Ortega, meanwhile, lost a unanimous decision to former UFC champion Aljamain Sterling in China a year ago.

UFC 331 also features the second promotional appearance of Jones’ protege Steveson.

Steveson has been primed and readied by former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Jones to enter the professional MMA scene.

The 26-year-old heavyweight knocked out Elisha Ellison in two-and-a-half minutes on his UFC debut last month and his next fight is already booked.

He has been matched against Sean Sharaf, who has lost both of his two UFC appearances, with UFC CEO Dana White no doubt eager to slowly bring him to the top.

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Also at UFC 331, Tuivasa will hope to end a seven-fight skid against newly signed heavyweight Robelis Despaigne.

Australian fan-favourite Tuivasa handed Louie Sutherland the first victory of the Briton’s UFC career in his last fight on home soil.

‘Bam Bam’ has fallen to the likes of Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov since his last victory against Derrick Lewis in 2022.

Despaigne, on the other hand, enters the fight on a wave of momentum, having brutally stopped Junior dos Santos in the first-ever MMA fight shown on Netflix in May.

The 37-year-old has already fought in the UFC, winning just one of his three appearances in 2024, later becoming Karate Combat’s heavyweight champion before he fought on Netflix.

Furthermore, UFC 331 will welcome standout middleweight Ryan Gandra back to the promotion for his third fight in 2026.

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‘Problema’ punched his ticket to the UFC through White’s Contender Series in 2025 and has scored back-to-back first-round KOs since.

The 31-year-old from Brazil is 10-1 in his pro career and finished Zach Reese on the undercard of Conor McGregor‘s nightmare comeback last time out.

He now finds himself fighting at UFC 331 against American Ozzy Diaz, who was KO’d by Manchester Top Team representative Ateba Gautier at UFC 328 in May.

UFC Meta Rankings

The UFC ranking system is ever-evolving and is now more different than ever.

Right up until the summer of 2026, the UFC used its official rankings based on media votes.

However, as of June 22, 2026, the UFC began transitioning away from the traditional media panel to new AI-based rankings in partnership with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.

The new rankings will be automatically calculated and updated every Monday following official events.

And talkSPORT.com have made it easy for MMA fans to stay up to date with the new system through a full and regularly updated UFC Meta Rankings list, including stars from the heavyweight and lightweight divisions.