Potential matchups for UFC 323 main card winners

Petr Yan faces Merab Dvalishvili for the trilogy

Yan took back the belt from Dvalishvili in dominant fashion. He was able to stuff 27 of 29 of Dvalishvili’s takedown attempts while landing five of his own. Yan was landing clean the entire fight on Dvalishvili, even able to make him audibly wince in pain due to body shots. 

In their first meeting, Dvalishvili dominated Yan with unanimous 50-45 judges’ scorecards. With Yan winning the rematch convincingly, it only makes sense to finish out the series with the trilogy. 

Dvalishvili has been the most active champion in 2025. He has proved himself as a company man, so he should be the UFC’s top choice for Yan’s first defense of his current reign.

Joshua Van defends against Tatsuro Taira

In an underwhelming flyweight championship fight, Van became the new undisputed flyweight champion. By no fault of Van, the fight ended prematurely with reigning champ Alexandre Pantoja sustaining a severe arm injury. Pantoja should obviously get an immediate shot to reclaim his belt, but at this time, the timeline of his return is unknown. In the meantime, Van could set up his first title defense, especially since he took virtually no damage in this fight. 

Taira was able to be the first fighter to finish former champion Brandon Moreno. He was able to get the TKO from back mount in what many thought was a premature stoppage.

Nonetheless, Taira was in a dominant and dangerous position that was almost certainly going to end the fight. Both Van and Taira are young and have great styles to test each other. Van is a strong boxer, and Taira is a dangerous grappler and submission threat. This fight would certainly be an entertaining matchup for fans.

Payton Talbott gets an opportunity to move up the rankings

After a dominant win over the retiring double champion Henry Cejudo, Talbott will almost certainly get ranked in the bantamweight division. 

It would make sense that Talbott would move up to Cejudo’s ranking spot at No. 10. In his next fight, he should get the opportunity to move up the rankings. 

Marlon “Chito” Vera would be a perfect matchup. Both Talbott and Vera are gifted strikers who always put on a show. To become a contender, Talbott needs to continually prove he is getting better with every fight. After just beating a former champion in Cejudo, Vera would be a great testm as he is a former title challenger. 

Vera is coming off a split decision loss to Aiemann Zahabi. Talbott would be a great opportunity for Vera to show he can still win against top talent in the division. If Vera wins, he could be right back in the mix as a contender, as well. This fight make a ton of sense for both fighters.