In case you missed the chance to watch Merab Dvalishvili defend his belt at UFC 320, the bantamweight champ will be entering the octagon once again in a short turnaround.
Dvalishvili will go for a fourth title defence in a bout against Petr Yan at UFC 323 in December, UFC’s Dana White announced Monday.
White also announced that the co-main event for the Las Vegas card will be a flyweight title fight between champion Alexandre Pantoja and rising contender Joshua Van.
Dvalishvili (21-4) has had a historic year after snatching the belt from Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 in September 2024. He’s defended his belt three times already in 2025, with a win over Umar Nurmagomedov in January at UFC 311, then in a rematch against O’Malley at UFC 316 in June and, most recently, he stifled Cory Sandhagen earlier in October.
Should the 34-year-old defend his belt against Yan, he would become the first fighter in UFC history to win four title defences in a single calendar year.
But Yan (19-5) is no slouch, as the Russian is on the back of a three-fight win streak, taking down Marcus McGhee, Deiveson Figueiredo and Yadong Song. His last loss came against Dvalishvili at a UFC Fight Night event in March of 2023.
Meanwhile, Pantoja (30-5) has been untouchable atop the flyweight ladder, winning four straight title defences after taking the belt from Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 in July of 2023.
Pantoja earned that eighth consecutive win by submitting Kai Kara-France with a third-round rear-naked choke, his second consecutive submission win and fourth during his current streak.
The 35-year-old titleholder from Brazil has also earned title defences over Kai Asakura, Royval and Steve Erceg since beating Moreno.
Van (15-2) is the top-ranked contender at 125 pounds and is coming off five-straight wins, with his most recent being against Brandon Royval at UFC 317.
Van and Royval set a UFC record for the most combined significant strikes in a three-round bout as both fighters landed and absorbed more than 200 significant strikes each. All three judges awarded the fight to Van on the scorecards.
The matchup was considered a title eliminator and the UFC seated Van cageside during Pantoja vs. Kara-France and brought the youngster into the cage for a staredown with the reigning champion after Pantoja defended the belt.
The 23-year-old from Myanmar who now lives and trains in Texas has quickly become one of the most popular and exciting young fighters in mixed martial arts and holds the record for having the highest significant strikes landed per minute rate in UFC history at 8.86.
Van is 8-1 since debuting in the UFC since debuting in June 2023 with his lone loss being a knockout to Charles Johnson in July 2024.
