LAS VEGAS -- UFC 323, the promotion's final numbered event on the 2025 calendar, will be held in a familiar place at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, headlined by a pair of title fights in which the champion enters as a decisive favorite against the challenger.
The main event features bantamweight belt holder Merab Dvalishvili in search of his fourth title defense this year against former champion Petr Yan.
Since earning the belt over Sean O'Malley at UFC 306 in September 2024, Dvalishvili (21-4) successfully
defended the crown against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 in January, O'Malley at UFC 316 in Junes, and Corey Sandhagen at UFC 320 in October.
This fight also recalls some history between Dvalishvili and Yan (19-5), who previously met in 2023 in far different circumstances. That was the main event of a UFC Fight Night card in March of that year, held at The Theater at Virgin Hotels about a mile off the Las Vegas Strip. It was Yan who closed as a -250 favorite before the fight, but Dvalishvili dominated and beat him handily in what can be pinpointed as the moment that began the current champion's skyrocket to the top of the sport.
Not only did Dvalishvili dominate the heavily favored Yan that evening, he demoralized him. Dvalishvili landed 11 of a record 49 takedown attempts in the fight, controlling all 25 minutes in a dismantling that forced Yan into a year-long hiatus from the sport. However, Yan is 3-0 since his return and knows he has to go for the kill early.
Make no mistake, Dvalishvili knows as much as Yan does that a puncher's chance is the only one the challenger has.
"I'm sure he will make a lot of adjustments," Dvalishvili said. "I have to keep the same energy. I think it will be different because I think this time I will be more technical, I will show more skill, but he will be the aggressive one. He will chase me. I'm sure he will try to knock me out. That's the only way he can stop me."
The co-main event features 23-year-old Joshua Van, one of the sport's fastest rising stars, receiving his first title opportunity against a fighter so fearsome that he's nicknamed "The Cannibal," flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja.
Van, a Burmese-American who fights out of Houston, rose to prominence with a star-making performance on short notice against No. 1 contender Brandon Royval, prevailing in a stand-and-bang classic at UFC 317 that remains the consensus Fight of the Year.
After Pantoja defeated Kai Kara-France by rear-naked choke in the fight immediately after Van and Royval's war that night, Van stepped into the cage and faced off with the 35-year-old legend of the sport in a moment that set Saturday's bout in stone. Van would become the first fighter born in the 2000s to earn a UFC title if he were to beat Pantoja.
A victory would make Van the second youngest to claim any UFC belt. Jon Jones was 23 when he won the light heavyweight title in 2011.
Pantoja believes his experience gives him an advantage on Saturday, but he is wary of the fact that Van is not an opponent to take lightly despite his youth.
"He hasn't had a lot of wars like I've had in this division," Pantoja said. "He looks fresh, very young. But I can understand he wasn't 100% in that fight with Royval because he took it on short notice. I can expect a better version. I take this guy very seriously, and that's why I want to prove my best version of that."
--Field Level Media
