Sean Sharaf, UFC 331 ceremonial weigh-in Credit: Gabriel Gonzalez/Cageside Press
Sean Sharaf’s finish of Gable Steveson at UFC 331 did not go unnoticed.
Sharaf was a sizeable underdog in the fight, which had Olympic gold medalist wrestler Steveson a -2500 favourite with some oddsmakers. Most had counted Sharaf out, but heavyweight is heavyweight, and a single punch changes everything. Which is did, just 12 seconds into the fight, when Sharaf flatlined the ex-NCAA Division I champ.
As Dana White said following the bout, “anything is possible.” And after anything can and did happen, Sharaf picked up a special $50,000 “proper chaos” bonus that had previously been announced in conjunction with the new season of Paramount+ show Mobland. On top of that, UFC CEO and President White pledged an extra $50,000.
Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC 331 were also the usual $100,000 and went to Arman Tsarukyan and Casey O’Neill. A slick arm-bar submission (a tornado arm-bar) saw O’Neill thrill fans at the Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, while Tsarukyan put away Mauricio Ruffy with elbows in the co-main event.
Fight of the Night went to the main event between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja. The rematch exceed expectations, and saw Van come away with a decision win after five incredibly hard-fought rounds.
$25,000 finish bonuses went to Joanderson Brito, Ryan Gandra, Chito Vera, and Patricio Pitbull. Attendance in Los Angeles was 19,357 for an $8.3 million U.S. gate, the highest in arena history.