UFC323 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Las Vegas, was the UFC’s last pay-per-view event of 2025 and ever before they move to the Paramount deal starting next year.
The event was also the UFC’s penultimate event for the year.
This event marked the fourth visit to the T-Mobile Arena for the year and continued the recent trend of hosting a title fight in the main and co-main events.
There were 14 fights on the card, including two catchweight bouts. Nine ended in stoppages, including two submissions and one injury. Four finished in unanimous point victories, and one ended in a rare draw.
TOP PERFORMER: PETR YAN
In a rematch of their March 2023 fight, in which Merab Dvalishvili won by unanimous decision, a few eyebrows were raised over Yan getting this title opportunity.
Although that March bout was his last defeat of a three-fight losing streak, he then went on a three-fight winning streak, which landed him this rematch for the bantamweight title. A title he held in July 2020, lost, then won the interim title in October 2021.
However, Yan was not going to let this opportunity slip. He was the aggressor in the five rounds and walked Dvalishvili down, getting the better of the wrestling and doing more damage to Merab than anyone had, to become a two-time UFC bantamweight champion.
TOP PERFORMER 2: MANUEL TORRES
Manuel Torres continued his unbelievable record of going past the first round just once in his twenty-fight professional MMA career.
This victory over a strong Grant Dawson, who had lost once in his previous 13 UFC fights, with one draw, earned him a fifth performance of the night award in his last five wins.
After just two minutes, as Dawson tried to back Torres up, he got caught with a leading right hand. Torres then followed with two more stinging right hands to send Dawson to the canvas, and finished with another on the ground to end it.
TOP PERFORMER 3: TATSURO TAIRA
Japanese striker Taira certainly put his name in the mix for a flyweight title fight with an eye-raising second-round stoppage victory over former title holder Brandon Moreno.
It was his eighth win in his nine UFC fights and the most significant against Moreno, who has aspirations of becoming a three-time flyweight champion, but Taira was a man on a mission.
He looked strong and forceful throughout, mixing strong striking, good footwork, with wrestling skills. The finish came in the second round after Taira took Moreno down, took his back, flattened him out and rained in blows until the ref mercifully stopped the fight.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Iwo Baraniewski lit up the early preliminary fights with a devastating first-round KO over Ibo Aslan. Both fighters came out swinging, and it seemed only a matter of time. As Aslan walked forward, he was stopped in his tracks with a heavy overhand right from Baraniewski, which sent Aslan to the canvas.
Jalin Turner returned from a mini retirement to end a two-fight losing streak with a brutal first-round knockout of Edson Barboza. He started with a vicious standing elbow that instantly opened up a deep cut in Barboza’s forehead. Then dropped Barboza with a lovely three-punch combination and eventually ended the fight with a four-punch combo.
Maycee “the future” Barber returned after over 18 months out and a near-death experience, to record a hard-fought, but impressive points victory over Karine Silva, who had lost once in her previous six fights in the UFC. Barber also had to deal with an illegal upkick to the face that went unpunished to get a dominant points victory.
