Merab Dvalishvili will make history when he attempts to defend his bantamweight title at UFC 323 in December.
Dvalishvili (21-4) will face Petr Yan (19-5) for the second time at UFC 323, the final PPV of the year, and of the ESPN era. That main event fight will be joined by Alexandre Pantoja (30-5) versus Joshua Van (15-2) for the flyweight title, which serves as co-headliner.
The historic part of the main event, however, is Dvalishvili defending a belt for the fourth time in a calendar year. No other champion has had that many title fights in such a short span; Merab, however, is very much living up to his nickname of “The Machine.”
UFC President and CEO Dana White announced the match-ups on Monday. Dvalishvili was on air on The Ariel Helwani Show when he learned of the booking.
Dvalishvili has already defeated Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O’Malley, and Cory Sandhagen in 2025. Immediately after a dominant win over Sandhagen with 20 takedowns landed, the Georgian star expressed a desire to fight once more this year and claim the record.
The Sandhagen victory also saw Dvalishvili tie the UFC record for most successful title defenses, meaning he can take ownership outright should he defeat Yan for the second time.
The pair first met in 2023, with Dvalishvili earning a unanimous decision victory over the Russian, himself a former UFC bantamweight champ. Since then, Yan has won three straight fights, most recently picking up a decision win over Marcus McGhee in July.
As for Pantoja vs. Van, that fight was firmed up when the pair faced off after UFC 317. Pantoja successfully defended his flyweight title for the fourth time by submitting Kai Kara-Franace that night. Joshua Van has won five straight fights, most recently getting the better of Brandon Royval.
UFC 323 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 6, 2025. The following match-ups have been reported for the event:
- Merab Dvalishvili (c) vs. Petr Yan – for the UFC bantamweight championship
- Alexandre Pantoja (c) vs. Joshua Van – for the UFC flyweight championship
- Henry Cejudo vs. Payton Talbott
- Jan Błachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov
- Marvin Vettori vs. Brunno Ferreira
- Brandon Moreno vs. Tatsuro Taira
- Maycee Barber vs. Karine Silva
- Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Antonio Trócoli
- Terrance McKinney vs. Chris Duncan
