Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to the pay-per-view (PPV) market later TONIGHT (Sat., Dec. 6, 2025), staging UFC 323 from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, marking the final PPV event of for the promotion on ESPN+ (sorry Canada and Australia!). Headlining the event will be a Bantamweight title fight as division kingpin, Merab Dvalishvili, defends his 135-pound belt for a record-setting time against Petr Yan, while Flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja, defends his 125-pound strap against surging young contender, Joshua Van.
If there was ever a fitting moniker in combat sports, “The Machine” fits Dvalishvili like a glove. Merab will attempt to defend his 135-pound title for the fourth time this year, which would be a first for the promotion. The Georgian won the strap back in Sept. 2024, defeating Sean O’Malley, then defended it in January against Umar Nurmagomedov, before defeating O’Malley again four months later. Soon thereafter, he defeated Cory Sandhagen in Oct. 2025. Once the dust settles in his fight against Yan, it will have been a total of five title fights in the span of 13 months — an absolutely ridiculous (and unhealthy) run. Against Yan, Dvalishvili will see a familiar foe since he defeated him via unanimous decision two years ago. That’s right, “The Machine” is resorting to rematches because he has been that dominant throughout his UFC run, which saw him start out with two straight defeats, only to rattle off 14 straight wins over the last seven years. If he gets through Yan, he will hope to face some new blood since he’s already defeated four of the Top 5 fighters in the division.