UFC 322 is in the books, meaning attention will soon turn to the mixed martial arts leader’s next pay-per-view offering, UFC 323 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The promotion was in New York City last week, where Madison Square Garden played host to a number of intriguing matchups for its 12th numbered event of the year. Of note were headline wins for Islam Makhachev and Valentina Shevchenko, as well as important victories for Michael Morales, Carlos Prates, and Benoit Saint-Denis.
While the aftermath of the November 15 card is currently the talk of the town, it won’t be long until focus sways to the next PPV, and from the welterweight and women’s flyweight title pictures to the bantamweight and flyweight championship conversations.
At UFC 323, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on December 6, Merab Dvalishvili will defend the UFC bantamweight championship against Petr Yan.
This will be a rematch of their first encounter in March 2023, which Dvalishvili won by decision. Since then, Dvalishvili defeated Henry Cejudo before besting Sean O’Malley at Noche UFC 2: UFC 306 to capture the bantamweight title. He’s made successful title defenses against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311, O’Malley at UFC 316, and Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320. A win at UFC 323 would make Dvalishvili the first champion in UFC history to defend the title successfully four times in one calendar year.
Since the loss to Dvalishvili, Yan has won three straight, picking up wins over Song Yadong, Deiveson Figueiredo, and Marcus McGhee.
Stakes will also be high in the co-main event, as Alexandre Pantoja defends the UFC flyweight championship against Joshua Van. Pantoja won the championship by defeating Brandon Moreno at UFC 290, and he has since successfully defended against Brandon Royval, Steve Erceg, Kai Asakura, and Kai Kara-France. Van has won five straight and is 8-1 in the Octagon. His 2025 has seen him earn a decision over Rei Tsuruya at UFC 313, score a highlight finish of Bruno Silva at UFC 316, and earn an upset over then No. 1-ranked Royval in a highlight fight at UFC 317.
Moreno, Cejudo, Blachowicz Set The Stage For Bantamweight Title Headliner At UFC 323
Before Dvalishvili and Pantoja make their way out to defend their titles, several names will look to make their own statements on the main card for UFC 323.
This includes the aforementioned Moreno, who will be doing with Tatsuro Taira. After dropping the flyweight title to Pantoja, Moreno lost a close split decision to Brandon Royval, but he has since rebounded with wins over Amir Albazi and Steve Erceg. Taira also tasted defeat via split decision to Royval, which marked the first loss of Taira’s MMA career. He rebounded, however, with a submission of Hyun-sung Park in August.
Henry Cejudo will also be featured on this card, as he takes on Payton Talbott. Though he’s a former simultaneous champion at flyweight and bantamweight, Cejudo has lost all three fights he’s had since coming out of retirement. This includes a technical decision loss to Song Yadong this past February. The highly-touted Talbott rebounded from his first professional loss with a decision win over Felipe Lima at UFC 317.
The main card is scheduled to open with former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz taking on Bogdan Guskov. Blachowicz is 1-3-1 since dropping the light heavyweight title to Glover Teixeira at UFC 267. After just under two years away, Blachowicz returned this past March, dropping a decision to Carlos Ulberg. Guskov has won four straight since dropping his UFC debut, most recently knocking out Nikita Krylov at UFC Abu Dhabi in July.
Those pairings have currently gotten the nod to feature on the main card over the likes of Marvin Vettori, Maycee Barber, and Edson Barboza, all of whom are expected to be featured players on the event’s preliminary card.
See below for the UFC 323 lineup, as it stands.
Main Card:
- Bantamweight Championship: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan
- Flyweight Championship: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van
- Flyweight: Brandon Moreno vs. Tatsuro Taira
- Bantamweight: Henry Cejudo vs. Payton Talbott
- Light Heavyweight: Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov
Preliminary Card (Order TBA):
- Featherweight: Muhammad Naimov vs. Mairon Santos
- Middleweight: Marvin Vettori vs. Brunno Ferreira
- Women’s Flyweight: Maycee Barber vs. Karine Silva
- Lightweight: Edson Barboza vs. Jalin Turner
- Light Heavyweight: Iwo Baraniewski vs. İbo Aslan
- Lightweight: Grant Dawson vs. Manuel Torres
- Lightweight: Terrance McKinney vs. Chris Duncan
- Middleweight: Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Antonio Trocoli
- Lightweight: Nazim Sadykhov vs. Fares Ziam
