UFC 323 Preview
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is live TONIGHT (Sat., Dec. 6, 2025)withits final pay-per-view (PPV) of the year (and forever). UFC 323 is set to take place inside the familiar T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with two title fights and a pretty good supporting cast.
The main event features Merab Dvalishvili, who 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 competed one time this year, defeating Marcus McGhee via unanimous decision.
The co-main event sees UFC’s Flyweight title on the line.
Division 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 G.O.A.T. 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, meanwhile. earned this fight with a quick win over Hyun Sung Park (re-live that here).
Rounding out UFC 323’s PPV main card 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 Pereira 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. UFC 323’s PPV main card starts at the usual time of 10 p.m. ET. You can watch that on ESPN+ PPV (for the last time).
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 QUICK RESULTS
Main card
- 135 lbs.: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan
- 125 lbs.: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van
- 125 lbs.: Brandon Moreno vs. Tatsuro Taira
- 135 lbs.: Henry Cejudo vs. Payton Talbott
- 205 lbs.: Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Grad
Prelims
- 155 lbs.: Grant Dawson vs. Manuel Torres
- 155 lbs.: Terrance McKinney vs. Chris Duncan
- 125 lbs.: Maycee Barber vs. Karine Silva
- 155 lbs.: Fares Ziam def. Nazim Sadykhov by TKO (punches), round 2 (4:59)
Early Prelims
- 185 lbs.: Official decision: Brunno Ferreira def. Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- 155 lbs.: Jalin Turner def. Edson Barboza by TKO (punches), round 1 (2:24) — HIGHLIGHTS
- 205 lbs.: Iwo Baraniewski def. Ibo Aslan by KO (punches), round 1 (1:29) — HIGHLIGHTS
- 185 lbs.: Mansur Abdul-Malik def. Antonio Trocoli by submission (guillotine), round 1 (1:09) — HIGHLIGHTS
- 145 lbs.: Mairon Santos def. Muhammad Naimov by KO (punch), round 3 (0:21) — HIGHLIGHTS
UFC 323 PLAY-BY-PLAY UPDATES
Prelims
Maycee Barber vs. Karine Silva
Round 2: Barber pressures Silva towards the fence. Silva jumps a guillotine. Barber is able to get out of it, though. Barber gets a body lock and then turns and takes down Silva. Silva rolls and, during the roll, clocks Barber in the head with her foot. Barber immediately complains. Barber looks wobbled after. The replay shows that Silva hit her with a pretty blatant illegal upkick. That should be a point deduction. Barber says “I’m a little dizzy, but I‘m OK to go.” The fight is restarted without a point deduction. Which is crazy to me. Barber takes Silva down immediately. Barber lays in some good ground and pound. Barber takes the back and lands some nice elbows to the side of Silva’s head. After getting hit with a bunch of punishment, Silva is able to put on a triangle and use it to sweep just before the round ends.
19-19
Round 1: After some light kickboxing exchanges, Silva gets Barber onto the fence and then drags her down. She takes the back, but isn’t super secure. Barber misses her chance to spin and get on top and Silva is able to lock in her body triangle. Silva looks for a choke, but Barber is able to survive. Barber spins and gets on top late in the round. She throws big ground and pound in the last ten seconds. That was nice, but Silva still gets the round.
10-9 Silva
Been about two years since we last saw Barber fight.
Barber a big favorite here, despite what happened before her last scheduled fight.
Nazim Sadykhov vs. Fares Ziam
Official Decision: Fares Ziam def. Nazim Sadykhov by TKO (punches), round 2 (4:59)
Round 2: Ziam takes the center of the cage and is sniping at Sadykhov. Sadykhov doesn’t want to get too close because he doesn’t want to get clinched up. Ziam switches over to wrestling and puts Sadykhov on the fence. Ziam gets Sadykhov down with the high crotch, again. Sadykhov hops up quickly though. Ziam sticks with him and then drags him down again. Sadykhov gets up and, as the round is ending, Ziam unloads with some elbows and punches against the fence. The referee waves it off right at the buzzer. Ziam might be a top fifteen Lightweight.
Round 1: Ziam uses his size advantage early, bullying Sadykhov in the clinch and landing some very hard knees. Sadykhov is stuck on the fence. He’s worried about doing too much and getting taken down. That’s exactly what happens, though. Ziam hoists up Sadykhov’s leg and drags him down. Ziam goes for an arm triangle, but can’t get it. Sadykov crawls to the cage, but Ziam is on top of him. Ziam gets his back and the body triangle. He works for a choke/crank.
10-9 Ziam.
Big size difference here.
I’ve been looking forward to this one!
