The final UFC card of 2025 capped off the year beautifully on Saturday. Not only that, but UFC 323 marked the end of the sport on ESPN, with UFC signing a deal to stream exclusively on Paramount+ starting in 2026. The card consisted of two high caliber title fights, as the flyweight and bantamweight titles were on the line. Alexandre Pantoja went into the fight on an 8 fight win streak and successfully defended the flyweight title 4 times over the span of 2 years. Meanwhile, Merab Dvalishvili held a 14 fight win streak and defended the bantamweight title 3 times in 2025. These two were the most dominant champions in the UFC going into December 6, 2025 in Las Vegas. Both fell to their respective challengers, but how could two champions fall so far in one night?
Obviously, an entire pay per view does not only consist of two fights. However, I would like to only look at the co-main and the main event, as they shook up the entire landscape of the UFC. Two unbeatable champions on one card, both defeated in bizarre fashion. That doesn’t happen every event, by any means. Therefore, I would like to take a look at what went down in these two fights and what it means for the new champions and their division.
Alexandre Pantoja has made an argument for the title of “GOAT of the flyweight division” throughout his tenure as champion. He dismantles every opponent he faces, derailing their hopes of the title switching hands. Upon defeating Kai Kara-France in June, 24 year old Joshua Van was also coming off a huge victory against flyweight contender Brandon Royval. Pantoja called out Van, and as they faced off in the cage, it was apparent that this would be the next fight for the flyweight division. However, with Van being so young and Pantoja such a dominant champion, it was almost certain that this would be yet another mauling on the behalf of the champion. The fight itself didn’t last long, but not for the reason you may think. Joshua Van caught a kick from Pantoja, forcing the champion into an awkward recovery. Pantoja fell directly on his left elbow, and as the replay showed, suffered a gruesome injury. The fight was stopped immediately, but surprisingly, Joshua Van was granted the TKO victory and of course the flyweight belt. This victory has caused major controversy in the MMA community, as many believe a freak injury shouldn’t cause such a dominant champion to have the belt ripped away. Not only that, but Joshua Van celebrated excessively as the referee ended the bout as if he had actually knocked out the champion.
Many fans had mixed feelings about the ending, as a lot wanted to see Van become the champion at some point. However, for any fight to end in this way is terrible, especially a high-level championship fight such as this. In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Joshua Van stated “He (Alexandre Pantoja” is one of the greatest of all time. And, you know, I didn’t want the fight to go that way. The UFC will figure something out”. There’s no doubt that a rematch will come, it’s just a matter of when. If Pantoja will miss sufficient time, Van might need to defend against someone else. In the fight right before, Tatsuro Taira scored a TKO victory against former champion Brandon Moreno. Perhaps this will be the fight to make, pending the recovery timeline of Alexandre Pantoja. With Van’s victory, he becomes the second youngest champion in UFC history to Jon Jones and the first champion to have been born in the 2000’s.
Fortunately, the main event did not end in such disastrous fashion. Merab Dvalishvili was able to fend off Petr Yan for all five rounds, with the fight ending in a unanimous decision. I have watched UFC all of my life, and this fight showcased some of the most elite and high level MMA I have seen. Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili has been on a tear this year, defending his title 4 times with 3 victories over the likes of Sean O’Malley, Umar Nurmagomedov, and Cory Sandhagen. He crushes his opponents and barely breaks a sweat in the process. His wrestling is devastating, accompanied by great grappling skills to hold his opponents in place. He has been one of the most active champions the UFC has ever seen, as his love for fighting fuels his will to keep stepping into the cage, no matter the opponent. A lot of people thought he would achieve the unbelievable 4 successful title defenses in one year alone. However, he had to go through Petr Yan first. Yan, a former bantamweight champion, suffered his latest defeat in 2023 against Dvalishvili. He lost his title in a bizarre illegal knee scandal that caused an uproar in the community. Furthermore, many thought he was “robbed” of a victory against Sean O’Malley in 2022. Many people wrote off Petr Yan as a true title contender again, especially having lost to Merab once before. However, the version of Petr Yan we saw on Saturday was arguably the best performance from a challenger in recent years. He outclassed Dvalishvili in every category, and for the first time in his career, the champion looked human. Dvalishvili is notorious for his punishing takedowns, but in this fight, he went 2/29 as Yan went 5/9. Yan had a total strike percentage of 63.3% to Merab’s 42.8%. Yan’s significant strike percentage was 60.4% and Merab’s was 35%. The use of technique displayed by Petr Yan was elite, and he most definitely deserved this victory.
It was a class act on both sides, with each fighter showing such respect for one another. There’s no doubt that a third fight will be coming soon to complete the trilogy, but I don’t think it should be anytime soon. Merab needs to take some well deserved time off and let his body recover. Many people suspect the amount of training and weight cuts he had to make was an accomplice in his loss on Saturday. He has deserved some time away to spend with his family and recuperate before the rematch. As for Yan, he earned this title every step of the way. Ever since he lost it to the illegal knee against Aljamain Sterling, he has been on a quest for redemption. Props to Petr Yan, the new bantamweight king of the UFC.
