Two big title fights have been confirmed for UFC 323.
It’s been announced by Dana White himself that the UFC Bantamweight and Flyweight titles will be on the line on the final UFC pay-per-view of 2025.
The UFC Bantamweight title was just defended in the co-main event as Merab Dvalishvili put his belt on the line against Cory Sandhagen in a rather one sided match-up. Merab will defend his belt for the fourth time against Petr Yan. This will actually be a rematch from March 2023; Yan took him to the limit in a five round bout that saw Merab win via unanimous decision.
Dvalishvili is also coming off impressive wins over Umar Nurmagomedov and Sean O’Malley; the UFC Bantamweight Champion also hasn’t lost a fight since 2018. Dvalishvili’s professional record stands at 21 wins and 4 losses.
Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan is also coming off an impressively dominant win over Marcus McGee back in July. There was some concern about Yan after his loss to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273; The bantamweight was on a three fight skid until his decision win over Song Yadong at UFC 299 changed the tide of his career. Now, Yan’s currently on a three fight winning streak. Yan’s professional record is 19 wins and 5 losses.
Alexandre Pantoja is fresh off his submission win over Kai Kara France at UFC 317. Pantoja will defend his title for the fifth time. The UFC Flyweight Champion is currently on a nice eight-fight winning streak; he’s beaten Manel Kape, Brandon Moreno, Steve Erceg, and Kai Asakura, with three of those wins coming by submission. Pantoja’s professional record stands at 30 wins and 5 losses.
His opponent, Joshua Van, is coming in hot thanks to his impressive five-fight winning streak. Though Van suffered a KO loss in 2024, he managed to adjust his game plan and rack up wins over Édgar Cháirez (by unanimous decision at UFC 306), Cody Durden (by unanimous decision at UFC 310), Rei Tsuruya (by unanimous decision at UFC 313), Bruno Gustavo da Silva (by TKO at UFC 316), and Brandon Royval (by unanimous decision at UFC 317). Van’s professional record is 15 wins and 2 losses.
The final UFC pay-per-view is shaping up to be something special.