It’s almost fight day for UFC 331 and one of the more highly anticipated rematches we’ve seen in a while with Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja throwing down in the main event.

The card features 12 other matchups, including a five-round scrap in the co-main event between Arman Tsarukyan and Mauricio Ruffy at lightweight with potential title implications.

All 24 fighters set to compete on the card successfully made weight for the event.

UFC 331 Picks & Predictions

My favorite picks for UFC 331 are Gable Steveson, Joanderson Brito, Joshua Van and Robelis Despaigne.

My favorite potential betting upsets for UFC 331 are Mauricio Ruffy and Chito Vera.

Steveson is being given another opportunity to shine early in his run with the promotion against Sean Sharaf and should take advantage of the situation.

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Sharaf hasn’t been overly easy to put away surviving until the second round in his UFC losses, so don’t be surprised if we see Gable use his wrestling and take this one to the ground to try finding the finish.

Brito enters his matchup with Giga Chikadze riding a two-right win streak and I like his chances to continue rolling.

Unless Chikadze can hit his patented Giga kick early, I think Brito will mix in his takedowns and grappling to chase submissions and land damage on the ground to win the rounds on the way to a decision or late stoppage.

I was on the other side of the fight in the original matchup last December, but I think Joshua Van showed in the Taira fight that he’s only continued to improve since winning the title.

While Pantoja is one of the best to do it in division history, I don’t think he’ll be able to ground out or submit Van.

I expect Van to have the bigger moments in the striking exchanges, stay on his feet more often than not and to have a better gas tank down the stretch to win rounds for a decision.

Despaigne is getting his second shot in the UFC and catches Tuivasa on a seven-fight losing skid in his return.

I expect Despaigne to manage distance and use his size to bother Tuivasa and win rounds with his volume, but I would be careful betting him with the lines a bit wide and reminder that picks are not bets.

UFC 331 Betting Card

For the UFC 331 tracked betting card, we have a handful of prop bets out, one small parlay and a moneyline.

The prop bets for this weekend are Tuivasa +7.5 Point Spread (+350 for .25 units), Vera by Decision (+500 for .25 units), Vera/Jourdain Ends in Split/Majority Decision (+380 for .25 units) and Van by Decision (+350 for .5 units).

The UFC 331 parlay is Steveson 1+ Takedowns Landed + Van ML (+190 for .5 units).

We also ran Mauricio Ruffy (+240 for .5 units) to pull the upset in the co-main event, but you can find better prices on him at this point some places, so check your books.

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Tuivasa recently moved to Florida and joined ATT in preparation for this fight, and while it might not be enough to get him a win, I think he should look a lot more competitive than he did in his last outing.

Don’t be surprised to see Tai actually work the clinch against the cage or even attempt a takedown here to take a round against an opponent with no real defense for either.

Vera is notorious for starting slow and getting going late in fights but given some recent changes in his camp and preparations, I think we’ll see him get a bit more active earlier in this one.

I expect it to be a competitive fight, but I give the nod in the striking and damage to Vera to squeeze out a win.

We haven’t seen much wrestling from Gable Steveson in his short MMA career, but wouldn’t be surprised if he goes to it in this matchup to attempt putting away Sharaf early with some ground and pound or a sub.

I really like that Ruffy actually made adjustments, including leaving the Fighting Nerds and working with Volkanovski now, after his loss against BSD and think he will give Tsarukyan some problems.

Arman has stayed active in wrestling and other disciplines, but his only clear MMA win in the last three years has aged terribly and Ruffy has the striking to put him away if he can’t find takedowns.

I expect Ruffy to survive some early pressure and scares before landing big to potentially end the fight.

That’s a total of six bets for 2.25 units on the UFC 331 tracked betting card.

We also have a couple untracked/NFL plays out too including Van ML + Rhamondre Stevenson Anytime TD + CMC Anytime TD (+418) and George Kittle Anytime TD (+195).

Noche UFC Quick Recap

The skid continued last week at Noche UFC on the tracked bets finishing -0.4 units for the card, but Tommy McMillen definitely fought for our money on the submission prop that would’ve put us comfortably in the green.

Dialing back the parlays stemmed the recent bleeding a bit with McMillen and Moreno almost singlehandedly getting us back to even, but unfortunately, we didn’t do the best job building the others.

Rafa Garcia was a bad play in hindsight and didn’t have the striking to hang with Rong Zhu, and somehow Bahamondes couldn’t find a finish in his matchup.

Merch Updates & New Inventory

Huge thank you to everyone who has ordered custom trading cards from our early releases, including the new Heat Signature series featuring eight rising fighters and the $200k Gunz Tommy McMillen.

They’re available to buy on Whatnot, eBay and Vinted with three new designs being added to the inventory this weekend.

Also, we appreciate everyone who has come to hang out with us during our Whatnot debut shows this past week.

We’re working on improving the setup and equipment, but we’ll definitely be running more of those in the future on a regular basis, so be sure to bookmark upcoming shows.

Assuming there aren’t any more shipping delays on the equipment that we have coming in, we should be live for a show or two tomorrow for UFC 331 fight day.

Be sure to check out our merch collaboration collection as well; Alvin Hines just got some fight news for November if you wanted to show him some support during camp and Dione Barbosa is looking to get back in there soon also.

UFC 331 Notes & Wrap-Up

Overall, this card should be a lot of fun with an energetic crowd riding the energy of some big finishes through the night.

Beyond Steveson, don’t be surprised if we see a big favorite or two struggle a bit, so would be careful with big parlays.

Losing Renato Moicano from the lineup when Brian Ortega withdrew was a killer since he was on our first play of the week with Van and a confident spot, so hopefully we made the right adjustments.

An absolutely loaded stretch of fights continues next weekend with UFC Vegas 121 headlined by Raul Rosas Jr and Raoni Barcelos, and we also have a few more weeks of Dana White’s Contender Series left.

Be sure to join us for some of our live shows tomorrow and this upcoming week for some early picks and to talk fights.

As always, best of luck on the bets and hope everyone enjoys the fights!

UFC 331 Quick Picks

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