UFC 323: Petr Yan, Joshua Van close out ‘ESPN era’ in style with big-time upsets

A pair of new champions at the smallest men’s weight classes will help usher in the UFC’s new age.

Bantamweight challenger Petr Yan and flyweight challenger Joshua Van pulled off major upsets on the locally-based promotion’s final pay-per-view under its five-year television contract with ESPN Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.   

Yan thwarted a shot at history for Merab Dvalishvili, who trains out of Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas, in the main event of UFC 323. Dvalishvili was looking to become the first champion in UFC history to defend his title four times in a single year, but Yan continually hurt him with lethal body kicks to win a unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47).

Dvalishvili dominated Yan in a March 2023 fight at Virgin Hotels with repeated takedowns, but the latter has since apparently adequately addressed his wrestling weakness. Yan took down Dvalishvili a couple times himself but, more importantly, was mostly able to stay on his feet.

“I tried to give people an entertaining fight and it was a bad plan,” Dvalishvili said afterwards in the octagon. “Congratulations to him but I want a rematch. I want to run it back.”

At least Dvalishvili can rest easy knowing he had 25 minutes worth of opportunities to keep his belt. Flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja barely got 25 seconds in the co-main event.

Pantoja and Van went right at each other from the onset with the champion eventually throwing a kick that the challenger caught. That sent Pantoja scrambling back and, when he tried to catch himself falling, his elbow visibly snapped.

Van rushed in for follow-up strikes, but Pantoja waved his hand on the healthy arm to motion he was done. The referee stepped in, and Van’s celebration began.

“He’s one of the greatest of all-time and I didn’t want the fight to go that way,” Van said “Maybe the UFC can figure something out.”

Yan vs. Dvalishvili III may actually look more likely than Van vs. Pantoja II. That’s both because the 35-year-old Pantoja may be out a while to repair his injury, and a new flyweight contender emerged on the main card.

In the featured bout before the two championship fights, Japanese prospect Tatsuro Taira overwhelmed former champion Brandon Moreno for the biggest win of his career.

After a grappling-heavy first round, Taira rocked Moreno in the second before the referee pulled him off for a TKO victory at 2:24 of the frame.

“I’m hungry for the belt,” Taira screamed afterwards. “Please give me the title shot baby.”

Taira sat cageside for Van’s victory but didn’t publicly confront and challenge him. The two did meet backstage later, and Taira said Van was receptive to the idea of a bout between the two in early 2026 after the UFC moves into a new seven-year, $7.7 billion broadcast deal with CBS/Paramount +.

One staple of the ESPN deal, former flyweight/bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo, will not be sticking around for the move.

The 38-year-old announced his retirement in the second pay-per-view fight of UFC 323 after a unanimous-decision loss to Las Vegas native Payton Talbott. Cejudo had his moments, but Talbott’s striking cut him out en route to winning every round on every judge’s scorecard.

Another former champion, light heavyweight Jan Blachowicz, also failed to come away with a victory in the main-card opener of UFC 323. Blachowicz had to settle for a majority draw with Bodgan Guskov.

He won the first and third rounds, but Guskov came close to a stoppage on multiple occasions in the second round after dropping the former champion with strikes.

Yan also looked close to finishing Dvalishvili a few times throughout their 25-minute fight. Dvalishvili was able to showcase his toughness, but couldn’t mount enough offense over the final three rounds. The first two frames were close, but Yan separated himself from there.

UFC 323 appropriately brought a lot of change in the organization.

“A hell of a way to end the ESPN era,” UFC President Dana White said.

Read below for full results from the preliminary card.

Manuel Torres pulled off the biggest upset of the undercard on the final preliminary to be aired on ESPN2. Torres caught Grant Dawson with a right hand and followed with ground-and-pound to win via TKO at 2:25 of the first round of their lightweight bout.

After two minutes of unbridled chaos, Chris Duncan forced Terrance McKinney to tap out to an anaconda choke at 2:30 of the first round. The lightweights lived up to their reputations for staging wild wars — especially the latter — as both fighters rocked each other before the eventual finish.

Women’s flyweight star Maycee Barber shook off a slow start to earn a victory in her first fight in 21 months. Barber, who pulled out of a bout with Erin Blanchfield as a result of seizures minutes before her scheduled walkout in May, defeated Katrine Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

Fares Ziam had one of the most dominant performances of the night at the expense of Las Vegas-based Nazim Sadykhov. Ziam picked apart Sadykhov for 10 minutes and was barely touched himself before finishing with a TKO victory at 4:59 of the second round in their lightweight bout.

Brazilian Brunno Ferreira upset Italian Marvin Vettori via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a catchweight (198) bout after the former missed weight.

Former lightweight contender Jalin Turner returned after a brief retirement to potentially retire longtime staple Edson Barboza as the former won via TKO at 2:24 of the first round.

Iwo Baraniewski earned a knockout stoppage at Ibo Aslan 89 seconds into a fight that was a wild striking exchange from practically the opening bell.

Las Vegas-based prospect Mansur Abdul-Malik outclassed Antonio Trocoli with a submission (guillotine choke) 69 seconds into the first round.

Marion Santos knocked out Muhammad Naimov 21 seconds into the third round of their catchweight (147.5) bout after he missed weight yesterday.