The UFC is returning to Southern California for the first time in 20 months.
UFC 331 will take place Sept. 19 at Crypto.com Arena, the first time the premier MMA organization has set up shop at the downtown Los Angeles arena in more than eight years, it was announced Saturday.
Tickets for UFC 331 go on sale Friday at AXS.com.
No fights have been announced for the event, though rumors have circulated of a lightweight title contender bout between Arman Tsurukyan and former champion Charles Oliveira. The winner would likely have a future date with recently crowned Justin Gaethje, who stunned the combat sports world with his punishing TKO victory over previously undefeated Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 on the South Lawn of the White House.
The last time the UFC was in the Southland was for UFC 311, when Islam Makhachev defended the lightweight championship against Renato Moicano – a short-notice substitution after Tsarukyan injured his back a day before the title fight – with a first-round submission Jan. 18, 2025, at Intuit Dome. Four months later, Makhachev vacated the title to move up to welterweight and became the 170-pound champion with a unanimous-decision victory over Jack Della Maddalena in November.
The UFC hasn’t graced downtown Los Angeles since UFC 227 on Aug. 4, 2018, when T.J. Dillashaw reclaimed the bantamweight championship with a first-round knockout of Cody Garbrandt in the main event.
Before that, the UFC had a pattern of holding fights at Staples Center, which officially became Crypto.com Arena in late 2021, every three years. It began with UFC 60, with welterweight champion Matt Hughes earning a TKO victory over the legendary Royce Gracie at a 175-pound catchweight, on May 27, 2006, in what was at the time the top-selling pay-per-view in UFC history.