The main event features Merab Dvalishvili. The Machine is looking to make history by defending his UFC Bantamweight title for the fourth time in a calendar year. Dvalishvili’s previous defenses were against Sean O’Malley, Umar Nurmagomedov and Cory Sandhagen. Petr Yan will try and stop him and become a two time champion himself. Yan has fought one time this year, beating Marcus McGhee by unanimous decision.

The co-main event sees the UFC Flyweight title on the line. Champion Alexandre Pantoja will go up against Joshua Van, who has blitzed through the division and now has a chance to become one of the youngest UFC champions ever. Pantoja will be trying to defend his belt for the fourth time (in total), a number that would start putting his name in the GOAT conversation at Flyweight.

The next man up for either Pantoja or Van is likely the winner of Brandon Moreno vs. Tatsuro Taira. Moreno, a former champ, beat up on Kai Kara-France most recently. Taira earned this fight with a quick win over Hyun Sung Park.

Rounding out the pay-per-view (PPV) is Henry Cejudo vs. Payton Talbott and Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov. An impressive win for Talbott might help him skip the line at Bantamweight (hopefully there’s no eye pokes in that fight). Truth be told, neither Blachowicz nor Guskov are anywhere close to challenging Alex Perreira anytime soon (that’s if he stays in their division).

UFC 323’s late “Prelims” are headlined by Grant Dawson vs. Manuel Torres. That portion of the card also has Terrance McKinney vs. Chris Duncan, Maycee Barber vs. Karine Silva and Nazim Sadykhov vs. Fares Ziam. That’s a dynamite program of action fights that could produce highlight reel finishes.

The early “Prelims” are propped up by Edson Barboza vs. Jalin Turner. Our first fights of the night also include Iwo Baraniewski vs. Ibo Aslan, Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Antonio Trocoli and Muhammad Naimov vs. Mairon Santos.

UFC 323 Start Date and Time

It’s standard operating procedure for tonight’s card. We’ve got the Early “Prelims” at 6 p.m. ET over on ESPN+/Disney+/FX. Then, at 8 p.m. ET, it’s time for the Late “Prelims.” Those air on ESPN2/ESPN+/Disney+/FX.

I will be providing live play-by-play, instant results, highlights and updates for all the fights right here starting at 6 p.m. ET.

See you then! Don’t forget to say ‘Hi’ in the comments, too.

UFC 323 PLAY-BY-PLAY UPDATES