On Saturday, the UFC held the final Pay-Per-View of the ESPN era, and its final PPV at least stateside for the next seven years if not more, as UFC 323 took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
With the exception of some non-U.S. markets, Pay-Per-View will be gone once the UFC switches over to Paramount+ in 2026. But there was one last big show to be had on Saturday, with both the bantamweight and flyweight titles on the line.
In the main event, Merab Dvalishvili was looking to make history. The Georgian known as “The Machine” had already defended his title three times in 2025, against Sean O’Malley, Cory Sandhagen, and Umar Nurmagomedov. Now, he was booked into a rematch with Petr Yan, looking to become the first UFC champion to successfully defend his belt four times in a calendar year.
Should he pull off such a feat, combined with his 14-fight win streak (which would then move to 15), Dvalishvili would almost certainly be at the top of the list for best bantamweight ever, surpassing the likes of Dominick Cruz, Aljamain Sterling, and Renan Barao among others.
Alexandre Pantoja was far back of Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in terms of title defenses, but the UFC’s current flyweight champ was steadily establishing his own legacy, and looking for a fifth title defense of his own against young star Joshua Van.
Following UFC 323 on Saturday, tune in for the post-fight press conference above.
