Dvalishvili, Pantoja face Yan-Van challenges

UFC 323 – the final major card for 2025 from the top MMA promotion – will feature Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili and Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja making defences of their titles at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the morning of 7 December.

Dvalishvili (21-4) will look to make a fourth successful defence of the 135lb belt when he battles old foe and former division champion Petr Yan (19-5) in the main event.

‘The Machine’ has lived up to his nickname with emphatic wins over Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O’Malley and Cory Sandhagen at UFC 311, UFC 316 and UFC 320 respectively through the course of 2025, and he is hungry to keep up his strong form with a second win over Yan – having defeated the Russian, nicknamed ‘No Mercy’, via unanimous decision back in 2023.

Dvalishvili attempted a single-fight record of 49 takedowns against Yan in that clash. He hopes he can win the rematch in more definitive fashion.

"A finish would be good," Dvalishvili explained. "But we all know nobody was able to finish Petr Yan. He has some split (decision) losses before, and I think only unanimous decision loss against me. Otherwise, he only lost by decision – so he's good. I'm just focusing on this fight: Get healthy, and win this fight. That's all I want. But a finish would be sweet."

In the co-main event, ‘The Cannibal’ Pantoja (30-5) will seek a fifth successful title defence of the Flyweight Championship when he takes on Joshua Van (15-2). The challenger, nicknamed ‘The Fearless’, has put together an impressive five-match winning streak, most recently defeating Brandon Royval at UFC 317 in June.

The 24-year-old Burmese-American is confident of dethroning the current champ at 125lb: “The fighting style that I bring, the no respect — I don't give respect to nobody in that cage. I respect [Pantoja] as a man, I respect what he's done in our division. But when we fight, there's no respect at all.

“You know how a lot of people say that, 'He's good at this, he's the next level,' this and that? Look at Royval. When they said, 'Oh, his pressure's going to be too much' — I didn't give him no respect when he was pressuring me. I don't give no respect. I stay calm, I'll do my thing. It's going to be the same thing [against Pantoja].”

The rest of the main card features former Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz taking Bogdan Guskov; former two-time Flyweight Champion Brandon Moreno faces rising star Tatsuro Taira; and former two-division Champion (Bantamweight and Flyweight) Henry Cejudo faces Payton Talbott in a bantamweight clash.

UFC 323: DVALISHVILI VS. YAN – MAIN CARD

- Main event: Bantamweight Championship: Merab Dvalishvili v Petr Yan

- Co-main event: Flyweight Championship: Alexandre Pantoja v Joshua Van

- Flyweight: Brandon Moreno v Tatsuro Taira

- Bantamweight: Henry Cejudo v Payton Talbott

- Light heavyweight: Jan Blachowicz v Bogdan Guskov