Gable Steveson just had one of the worst weeks in UFC history.
On Saturday, Steveson made his sophomore UFC appearance, fighting Sean Sharaf on the main card of UFC 331. Steveson is one of the most highly-touted prospects to ever enter MMA, but the Olympic gold medalist had a tumultuous fight week as he was relentlessly booed by fans and mocked by Sharaf for the past sexual assault allegations made against him. Steveson handled the attacks by dismissing Sharaf as an opponent, only to then get brutally knocked out in 12 seconds and flee the scene afterward, not even being willing to stand in the cage as Sharaf was officially announced the winner.
The backlash to Steveson’s catastrophic performance and reaction was immediate, and though there were better and more significant fights at UFC 331, the talk of the MMA world is on Steveson right now.
So, before we get to Joshua Van silencing any doubters by beating Alexandre Pantoja, or Arman Tsarukyan cementing himself as the next lightweight title challenger, let’s talk about Gable Steveson’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
1. Has any UFC fighter ever had a worse week than Gable Steveson?
Heck: Honestly? No. This was as bad as it gets all the way around, and he now has such a hole to dig himself out of, quite frankly, I’m fascinated to see if he can — and there’s only one way he’ll be able to (more on that in a moment).
Steveson was clearly not mentally ready for the UFC and MMA fan base. The wrestling community is not going to treat him this way, even if they want to. It’s just not in their being. The UFC fan base has zero f’s to give, and if their boos can help contribute to Steveson losing, they will wear that badge with honor. Steveson not only looked uncomfortable all week while Sean Sharaf went there with him — and Steveson should probably be ready for every opponent to also go there moving forward — but his comebacks on the mic left everyone else uncomfortable. Dislike transitioned to pure disdain. But as I say, winning solves everything.
But then that damn bell had to ring, and 12 seconds later, Steveson was unconscious. And a few minutes after that, Steveson headed to the back and looked like a baby while smirking away to the loudly booing crowd.
But here’s how he can turn things around: Just go full-blown heel. Stop with the nice guy stuff. Go be an absolute prick and try to use this as a chip on his shoulder. He will never turn this fan base on his side, no matter what he does. So stop trying. Get that nuclear heat and try and win fights. Otherwise, RAF is there, maybe another Olympic run is there, and he can move on quickly from this chaotic sport.
Lee: I can’t believe you’re making me bring this up, but it’s still Jose Aldo.
Yes, you have to look beyond just the week to remember Aldo’s downfall at the hands of Conor McGregor, but that makes it even worse. It was a world tour of frustration for Aldo, with McGregor memorably ripping the belt away from him at a press conference in Dublin, bringing their feud to a fever pitch. For us Aldo fanatics, we could at least hold on to the fact that none of that would matter once UFC 194 rolled around and justice would be served.
Instead? Thirteen seconds. A loss so devastating that it resulted in a newer generation of fans becoming ignorant of Aldo’s greatness and, without hyperbole, permanently changed the entire landscape of MMA.
Meshew: The only other fighter I can think of who comes close is Ronda Rousey before her fight with Amanda Nunes. That was a legendarily bad fight week from Rousey, who refused to do most media and then ran away from the sport for a decade after getting embarrassed. Given how much further from the top she had to fall, that still might take the cake, but Steveson sure tried to give her a run for her money. And honestly, there are some similarities to the two situations, as they feature enormously arrogant fighters who lost embarrassingly and then couldn’t check their egos enough to take the loss on the chin (metaphorically, both of them took the losses on the chin very literally).
But the difference between Rousey and Steveson is that Rousey lost to the greatest female fighter of all-time. Steveson lost to Sean Sharaf. No disrespect to Sharaf — who is a stone-cold hero for what he did on fight week and on Saturday — but Steveson wasn’t wrong when he said Sharaf was the worst guy in the heavyweight division. He was! Every fighter loses, but it’s who you lose to and how that matters. This is as bad a loss as a fighter can have, and his reaction was somehow even worse. Even if Steveson can come back from this physically, how can he ever regain face with the fanbase? For the rest of his career, people are going to chant “12 seconds” and “Loophole” at him.
Mike suggested Steveson should lean into being the heel, but I don’t think he’s capable of doing so. All fight week, he was clearly bothered by how reviled he was by everyone — I’ve never seen the MMA fanbase more unified about anything — and he had no idea how to handle it. That dynamic is only going to get worse, and I don’t know how he can fix it. You think Jon Jones is going to teach him? Jones has never cared about people hating him; he only cares that people call him the GOAT.
Steveson is still talented, and heavyweight is still buns, so I won’t say that he can’t come back and do big things in the sport, but honestly, maybe he shouldn’t. After all, why stick around for something hard when instead you can flee the scene and go somewhere else? He has some practice at that already.
2. Is Joshua Van the next great UFC champion?
Heck: He certainly looks the part, doesn’t he? Van was so impressive on Saturday, and that close-the-show round was so damn special.
I think Van will put together quite the reign, but he has a super dangerous ask in front of him next by the name of Manel Kape, and as durable as Van has proven to be (for the most part), Kape can put ANYBODY in this division to sleep. I will pick Van to win, but it will be tense the whole way through.
But most importantly… just how good is Charles Johnson?
Lee: He darn sure is.
I’m usually hesitant to bet on any champion this young, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a young champion this good. Well, I can, and you know what, outside of his legal issues and ending his career as a duck, Jon Jones did pretty well in the end!
Van doesn’t have an easy path ahead of him, with the hard-hitting Kape likely next and a division that is bristling with talent if not depth. There are legends to build his name off of (Brandon Moreno and Kyoji Horiguchi are still in play), fellow wunderkinds (Rei Tsuruya, we see you), and even a chance to get Charles Johnson back would be intriguing. The fun has just begun.
Meshew: Yes. Once everybody has some time to cool down and let Saturday marinate, I think more people will begin to realize just how special Van is. In a championship fight where he’s been pushed hard, in the fifth round, Van did everything you ever want a champion to do. He didn’t go out there to jab and move and squeak out a win or try to coast to a decision; he went out there to make a statement.
After 20 minutes of fighting at an insane pace, Van came out and put together the most dominant round of the fight, wailing on Pantoja like a rented mule, and even trying to submit him. That’s rare, rare stuff from Van, and this is now the second fight in a row he’s done it. I look forward to seeing more of it.
3. Arman Tsarukyan is undeniable now, right?
Heck: He has been since he made weight as the backup fighter for Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier; he cemented it with the destruction of Dan Hooker, and he triple-stamped the double stamp with a knockout of the year contender.
I don’t think this will be an easy fight to book, by the way. Gaethje has decisions to make as to whether or not he wants to return. And that’s totally fine; he’s earned the right to do whatever he wants. But here’s the thing he may not realize: Tsarukyan is the biggest fight he can realistically have right now. Is Tsarukyan where Ilia Topuria was in terms of star power? No, but he’s right up there. This is bigger than a Topuria rematch right now, or anything else that could be on the table. So if Gaethje is coming back, it should ONLY be to fight Tsarukyan. But if Gaethje wants to ride off into the sunset after — in my opinion — the greatest victory in UFC history, he deserves to do so.
Lee: Arman Tsarukyan, Dana White, and – we hope – Gaethje and his management have got to be on the same page.
The usual disclaimer: there are no guarantees in combat sports, especially in the UFC, but that Tuesday matchmaker meeting better end with unanimous agreement that Gaethje vs. Tsarukyan is next. Knock on wood, if Tsarukyan can’t make the date for whatever reason, so be it, but fans deserve to see that fight properly announced, and Tsarukyan acknowledged as the true No. 1 contender, no matter what other narratives are being pushed out there.
Meshew: He better be.
Islam Makhachev is the successor to Khabib Nurmagomedov; we all know this. But Arman is his true spiritual successor. Arman fights more like Khabib than Islam does (Islam fights like a guy who spent his whole life fighting against Khabib), and his journey is more similar, too.
Like Khabib was, Arman’s probably been the best lightweight on Earth for several years but hasn’t fought for the title through a combination of UFC business decisions and his own failures. And like Khabib, Arman eventually decided he’d had enough and became undeniable through a series of huge wins and making himself immensely popular.
Now, like with Khabib, the obvious answer is that Justin Gaethje retires and Arman fights Al Iaquinta for the vacant title on short notice.
4. Other than main and co-main events, who was the biggest winner at UFC 331?
Heck: Casey O’Neill is back back!
A+ night for someone I’ve been super high on as a fun, grimy, break-your-spirit fighter since her Eternal MMA days. After an up-and-down start, “King” is locked back in, got one of the sickest submissions I’ve seen in some time, got a $100k bonus, and then made the perfect callout of Maycee Barber.
10 out of 10. No notes.
Lee: It wasn’t a bad night for old dudes!
Alonzo Menifield gave Iwo Baraniewski a reality check, and Pantoja put on a fine effort in a loss to a champion over a decade younger than him, but the comeback adult of the night for me was Marlon Vera.
Even with a winnable matchup against Charles Jourdain, I was counting “Chito” out, not at all sold on the camp change or his Michael Page-esque vow to just do more. But sure enough, he did more, a lot more, and for nearly 15 minutes he looked more like the Chito of old than a guy one loss away from exiting the UFC.
After Jourdain went “no mas,” Vera let all the emotions pour out, and it was easy to get caught up in the moment with him.
Meshew: Sean Sharaf. The answer is Sean Sharaf.
But we also got vintage performances from Patricio Pitbull and Marlon Vera, both of whom went back to old coaches. Shout out.
5. Aside from the obvious, who was the biggest loser at UFC 331?
Heck: We saw the last of Giga Chikadze in the UFC on Saturday, and while I gave him very, very little chance of beating Joanderson Brito, I certainly didn’t expect him to get dusted in 90 seconds.
Those 25 minutes he spent with Calvin Kattar crushed him physically, but it really damaged him in other ways as well. My read on Chikadze had always been pretty spot on, especially when the UFC was trying to rush him up the ladder, and I was over here scratching my head. I just didn’t see this type of downfall coming.
I believe Chikadze has a long, great career ahead of him as a coach, but I think his octagon tenure has to be over.
Lee: If Tsarukyan is truly undeniable, then Ilia Topuria has to be feeling nervous right now.
Topuria and his people are doing their best to talk up a second crack at Gaethje, and one can imagine Gaethje and the UFC view it as a marketable rematch, but fans of merit couldn’t have been more pleased by Tsarukyan not only winning, but doing so in spectacular fashion Saturday night. Somewhere, even Topuria had to be tipping his cap to Tsarukyan while also quietly cursing under it.
If Topuria knows what’s good for him, he should pivot to talking up a Paddy Pimblett grudge match, because any attempt to tout himself as ahead of Tsarukyan in the title race will just be desperate.
Meshew: Tai Tuivasa lost his eighth consecutive fight. Even though Tuivasa honestly looked way better in this fight than he has in several years, tying the record for failure is never a good thing. “Bam Bam” hasn’t won a fight since 2022; for reference, the day before Tuivasa’s last win, 21-year-old Joshua Van had just moved to 3-1 in his professional MMA career, and Iwo Baraniewski has not yet started his career.
Surely that’s the end of Tai’s UFC tenure, unless they want to try and rehab Gable with him.
6. What’s your final, brief review of UFC 331?
Heck: Best, non-White House card of 2026, and it’s not close.
Lee: Unequivocally, one of the most satisfying major events in recent memory.
Meshew: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.
Sean Sharaf forever.
