UFC 323 Preview
The UFC is invading the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, December 6th for UFC 323. The main event will be a title fight and a rematch in the bantamweight division between champion Merab Dvalishili and former champion #3 Petr Yan.
Dvalishili has won 14 straight fights and is looking to defend the belt for the fourth time. He most recently defeated Corey Sandhagen by unanimous decision at UFC 320 in October. He defeated Yan in their first fight by unanimous decision in 2023 and since then has become the greatest bantamweight in the world. He is looking to become the first UFC champion to defend his title four times in a year.
The champion has made a name by being one of the hardest working fighters in the UFC. While some fighters like to use trash talk to sell a fight, Dvalishili likes to do his talking with his performance in the octagon. “I never like to make it drama,” Dvalishvili said. “It’s a fight. We are professional fighters. The people will watch anyway.”
“I don’t like to talk trash for no reason. I don’t like somebody to disrespect me for no reason.”
How does the 34-year-old feel about fighting his fourth title fight of 2025? “That was my goal to be busy this year,” Dvalishvili said. “Thank you to UFC for making this happen.”
The Georgian fighter talks about the difference between the first fight with Yan and the fight on Saturday. “That time, it was personal for me,” Dvalishvili said. “Now, it’s more competition. We fought once and I beat him. Every time he was fighting, I was cheering for him. Look at Instagram. He’s a great father. He’s a good fighter. The only problem I have with him is he was bullying. He was talking trash about me, about (Aljamain Sterling), about our team. He doesn’t give us respect.”
“No matter what happens, I will shake his hand and wish him the best.”
If Dvalashili defeats Yan for a second time, who does he want to fight next? “I would like to fight a fresh opponent, of course. [Aiemann] Zahabi is coming from a long win streak. That would be a good fight,” Dvalishvili said.
“Song Yadong is fighting Sean O’Malley. If Song Yadong will win this fight, I may fight him. We will see. Our division, there are a lot of fights. The guy who fights Henry Cejudo now (Payton Talbott), maybe he will be in the line.”
Yan has gone 3-2 since losing the title in 2022 to Aljamain Sterling. He has won three straight fights and most recently defeated Marcus McGhee by unanimous decision in July.
How does the Russian think he can avenge his loss to the champion? “A lot of people make the same mistake,” Yan said. “I think I even made the same mistake. They wait for him to work. They give him room to work instead of implementing their own gameplan. I think the way to beat him is to go first and not let him work.”
He continued, “I wasn’t 100 percent back then,” Yan said. “I wasn’t able to really work the way I always work. I think I learned a lot. It was a very big experience for me that fight, and now I know this fight on Saturday is going to be a very different fight.”
What does this fight mean to Yan? It weighs a lot more when you get it as a rematch,” Yan said. “You weren’t able to do it then; now, not only do you cross out that loss, but you also get the title. I think it’s going to weigh and mean a lot more for me.
“It’s an incredible feeling, something you can’t describe in words,” Yan said of having the belt wrapped around his waist. “I’ve been waiting for this and I’m going wait for this more until Saturday, and I’m going to be really excited to have this again.”
Who does Yan think he will fight next if he can pull of the upset over Dvalashili at UFC 323? “I think Merab deserves any rematch that he wants. Whether he calls it out, or the UFC calls it out,” Yan said. “I think he deserves a rematch. If I do win, I think that it would be a really cool trilogy to put that third fight together.”
The rest of the main card:
Alexandre Pantoja -238 (c) vs. Joshua Van +195, flyweight title
Tatsuro Taira -122 vs. Brandon Moreno +102, flyweights
Payton Talbott -278 vs. Henry Cejudo +225, bantamweights
Jan Blachowicz -135 vs. Bogdan Guskov +114, light heavyweights
ESPN+ Prelims:
Grant Dawson -218 vs. Manuel Torres +180, lightweights
Chris Duncan -166 vs. Terrance McKinney +140, lightweights
Maycee Barber -180 vs. Karine Silva +150, women's flyweights
Fares Ziam -135 vs. Nazim Sadykhov +114, lightweights
Marvin Vettori -115 vs. Bruno Ferreira -105, middleweights
Jalin Turner -298 vs. Edson Barboza +240, lightweights
Iwo Baraniewski -192 vs. Ibo Aslan +160, light heavyweights
Mansur Abdul-Malik -1150 vs. Antonio Trocoli +650, middleweights
Mairon Santos -258 vs. Muhammad Naimov +210, featherweights
