MMA Fighting - REACTION | Dana White Announces Merab vs. Yan 2, Pantoja vs. Van For UFC 323

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Dana White made some big announcements for the UFC's final pay-per-view of 2025 and announced that Merab Dvalishvili looks to make his fourth title defense against former champ Petr Yan in a rematch to headline UFC 323. Additionally, White confirmed that Alexandre Pantoja defends the flyweight title against top contender Josh Van in the co-main event. Following the big reveal from the UFC CEO, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck reacts to the bouts announced, how the card stacks up for the final numbered card event of the year, Henry Cejudo returning against Payton Talbott, and much more. Follow Mike Heck: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@m_heckjr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/dYpsgH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our full video catalog: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/u8VvLi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Visit our playlists:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://goo.gl/eFhsvM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Like MMAF on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://goo.gl/nOATUI⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.mmafighting.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.com slash Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Well, hello there, everybody. Happy Monday afternoon. Thanks for joining live here on the M.A. Fighting YouTube channel. I was actually supposed to have the day off today.

But you know what? Dana White didn't have the day off. So why should I have the day off? Because he dropped some big, big news today in regards to the final UFC pay-per-view of the year. And as a matter of fact, probably the final UFC pay-per-view maybe ever before they head over to Paramount for that big Paramount deal. UFC 323 going down December 6th in Las Vegas, Nevada, the main event. The rematch for the UFC Banimoy title, Marad de Walsh, Willie, defending against the former champ,

Piotr Yon. Big fight right there. Maraub de Wallis really trying to get his fourth title defense, just solidify, lock down, that fighter of the year trophy at the end of the year. probably the front runner right now. If Jack Delam Adelana defeats Islam Makachev, I think a lot of people will put him at the top of that list. But Marab gets four title defenses.

I don't care what happens. He's the man. He will be fighter of the year. Co-main event, the flyway title is on the line. Shout out to Michael Aswell, who actually announced this during UFC Rio, Alexander Pantosia defending against Josh Van. I think we saw that one coming back a few. months back after Josh Van and Bren Royval had the fight of the year and then Pantosha defended

his title successfully. They had the face off. That's what was going down. That's where we're getting. So that fight is going down two big title fights. And in addition, some other fights being announced as well, the return of Triple C, the former two division UFC champ, Henry Suhudo is back. He is facing Peyton Talbot. What I really didn't see see coming. because I had heard about a possible matcher for Peyton Talbot at Madison Square Garden. It did not come to fruition. So now, Payton Talbot gets Henry Suhudo instead, a massive opportunity for the young and rising star from Dana White's Contender Series. We also found out that former UFC light heavyweight champion, Yombovich, will face Bogdan Gouskoff at that event.

In another fight that the UFC is not announced, but we confirmed, I believe Mike Behoff. Bond from MMA junkie reported this earlier. We confirmed this as well. It is not signed, sealed, and delivered yet, but it is in the works. Another matchup featuring a former champion, former flyway champion, Brandon Moreno is about to face Tetsuro Taira at UFC 323. Again, that is verbal agreements in place, no pen to paper, but we confirm that fight is all but done for UFC 323.

So massive event, there are some other rumored bouts going down. well. Macy Barber, Karine Silva is up there, according to Tapology. Mansor Abdul Malik against Antonio Tricoli, going down at that event as well. Terrence McKinney versus Chris Duncan

is going down at that card as well. And there are probably some other things going down as well. And this is a pretty damn good card. I can't lie. This is a lot of people are asking, do you think Marab will turn right back around and face Peter Yon? And I actually didn't see this coming. more so from the Yon side,

but then when Yon jumped on Ariel's show and he said, yeah, man, I'm ready for it. He's ready for it. So that's where we're getting. UFC 323 Piotr Yon could end the year as the Badaway champion, but Maraudelaus really has looked unstoppable. Is he fighting too frequently?

Is he going to run out of gas? I'm not really sure. We shall see. And then the Henry Sehudo, Peyton Talba fight is friggin wild, man. Did not see that one coming. And I want to hear from you guys. Yes, Green Ranger 907.

Didn't see this news getting called this early, but Mike Aswell broke it. I think we should tag him in that. He should be the guy that Marcel at when he puts up the announcement on Twitter, which I'm sure he already did. Joseph Bose, I think Michael Aswell opened his mouth and begged to 323 Dana had to break it. I mean, we've seen fighters say things all the time.

We've seen fighters go on podcasts and announce a bunch of different things. but yeah, that did not happen. Thank you, Master of the Universe Classic. Then he asked, what's the poster at the side? It looks like a movie poster. Talking about this one. That is a pretty cool piece right there. That is a Larry Holmes versus Muhammad Ali

Don King Productions poster. And it is signed by Muhammad Ali. It's pretty cool. The last hurrah, if you will. So, uh, litany of great advice. You damn right. Rob is the man. Lazybed saying,

Morales versus Brady. Did they announce that? Did the UFC announce Morales versus Brady? I mean, mind you, I know it's out there already. I have heard that that's a possibility as well. But yeah, I'm surprised that the UFC hasn't announced it. So maybe it's,

not happening. I'm not really sure. So, uh, yes, Satakob versus Fersa I am going down on that card as well. I did see that. That's a damn good fight. That is very, very fun. Uh, Master Universe. Mike, with all the recent fight announcements, what's left for Patty, he seems to be left out on this from what it seems thoughts.

I, I don't know. I don't know. He could be fighting Ilya. I know some folks are saying he's fighting, Ilya was probably fighting Justin Gaichy, but again, we have a we haven't gotten that official announcement yet, so we're not really sure if that's the case, but I don't know what they're going to do with Patty. Honestly, like, I could see them doing Olivera, but I think there's just too much heat on the Max Holloway fight at this moment.

You can't do anything else but that. I think that's what you have to do, is just do the BMF title fight between Olivera and Max, which kind of screws Patty again. So, hmm. Oh, Darry, you should. Darriush is fighting Benoit Santini at MSG. Wouldn't hate Darius versus Patty if he wins that fight.

You do Patty versus Viziv. I don't hate that idea. I don't know how long Viziv's going to be out for. If you just want to get Patty in there to get one more win, I don't know. Maybe you cash in on the Moikano card. I'm not really sure. So, yeah, Patty's going to be a pretty interesting guy.

He might just wait for a title fight too. Who knows? Joseph, am I crazy to think this is a business move from Marab wanting to turn around quickly? Heard rumors is the last time champions will get pay-per-view points before the Paramount deal kicks in. I was told that is the case as well, but I'm also told that the champions' guarantees are going up. So it's just got to sort of make up for it. And again, it's not like the paper-view points are massive these days. It's not like these pay-per-views are doing a million buys.

So it's not like their life is changing being the A side of a pay-per-view because it's just not one of those. They're just not selling that much. I think a good pay-per-view number in this day and age for the UFC is probably like 300,000. They do 300,000. That is probably double what they typically do. Like, I don't know what this one's going to do.

This one's not going to, like all of us here, we are going to be pumped for it. We're going to watch it. We're going to be ready. We love all the fights that are on it. It's going to be a lot of fun for us. But the casual audience, the ones who are going to buy pay-pureviews, the ones that don't buy everything, are they really going to buy this one?

I'm not really sure, especially with the way the lighter weight classes are typically treated when it comes to pay-per-view buys. So I don't think pay-view points are going to make a huge difference anyhow, but they're going to get, champions are all going to get bumped up. Hunter Campbell confirms Morales versus Brady per home-of-fight, really? I didn't know homo-fifes.

fight had Hunter Campbell's phone number. Let me look at that again. Is that for 323 as well? No, 322. That's what I had heard. Remember I was teasing Sean Brady's next fight, but I couldn't say. That was the one I was thinking of. So I don't know if it's on the website just yet, or if it's got to be on the website

just yet, but I know we haven't like fully 100% confirmed that, but wouldn't hate it. I'm thinking Ily and Patty would be the first made of her for the Paramount. deal. I expect the first few months to have main events that are hot. Ilya, just fighting at all is going to be a big deal. So not really, not really sure if it's going to happen in January. They could just do Gaichi. And that's a fine fight too with these announcements of the rest of the card that is rumored and not confirmed 323 looks good.

Are there any other fights in this card under the radar? For me, it's Bacy Barber versus Creane Silva. That's a big one. I think, and I think one of the bigger things about it, it is that is basically going to make it to the fight? Like are the medical issues squared away? So that whole fight week, if you're a Macy Barber fan or if you're a Kureenay Silva fan

or if you're just a fan of that fight in general, I think a lot of us are going to be waiting with bated breath to make sure she could actually make the walk with everything she's had going on lately. But I would say Nizim Sadikov versus Frezai am is probably, it. Opening odds from fight on Jan plus 240, Marab minus 298 agree or disagree. I thought for an opening line, I think that's probably spot on. That first fight was not close at all. And while Jan has improved quite a bit, I don't know. It's just, it's a tough one. It's going to be a real tough fight for

Piotr Yan. It really is. Because the best thing Piotr Yan could probably do in this fight is get off to an early lead and he's not very good at doing that he's not a guy that typically sets the tone in the first round he usually gets better as the fight goes but he's fighting a guy who's probably better than him at getting better as the fight goes because marab is a typically sort of slow starter as well and then he just starts sprinting downhill after that and i just don't know if yon can be it can beat him i really don't unless he just let's he melts him with a shot but I don't see it happen. I just don't see it happening.

So I think the lines are pretty spot on. I bet Mara will probably be close to like a minus 375 come fight night. So let's see. Cool that Yon's coming back. Yeah, man, he hasn't fought. What was the last time he fought? Oh, was the Carl Zellberg fight. So Yon has fought since March.

All right. I feel like he's been out longer than that. And then before that, it was the Pereira fight. So he was out. for well over a year after the Pereira fight. And then the Carl Sleberg fight was not that fun. And I have a feeling that there's just no way that yeah,

will be in a boring fight here because Bogdan Guskopf just doesn't roll like that. He's going to go right after that man. Could we see the legendary Polish power, hopefully? But I think that's going to be kind of a fun fight. Of all the fights announced, which gets your juices flowing the most from a fan perspective? It's a good question. probably Pantosia van it's probably that one because that

vans looks so good I don't think he beats Fantosia but he he might he might beat him I don't know and Josh Van like look at the year this guy's happening we're talking about like fighter of the year and stuff boy is Josh Van going to have quite the case for himself if he wins his fight he'll be 4-0 beat Roy Val and then if he wins the belt against Pantot that's that's quite a run man he'll have probably the fight of the year he's right in that

he's right in that conversation so yeah that fight has really high stakes for me the so hoot talbot fight is is definitely interesting because as as rob the schwap asks is this the retirement fight i don't see how it isn't especially if he loses I mean, even if he wins, I mean, if he beats Peyton Talbot, that's a damn good way to walk off into the sunset, man. I don't know what else he needs to do. He's already won the gold medal, two division champ. He's done so much. He's accomplished so much already in his career.

And he hasn't looked spectacular since he's come back. I mean, he's fought really tough dudes. I mean, you fought Sterling for the belt, fought Barab, then the same. song fight happened and it was the weirdness. So if he beats Payton, that's not a bad way to walk away. And if he loses, I think you have to kind of call it in a career. So that's why Millie's surprise Rob is in favored more. I think it's just because of the opening line, because they drop these opening lines and they

want action. They want bets to come in on both sides and they feel like this line will do it. Because I think a lot of money will come in on Maraub early at this price. Is John getting this title fight kind of a curse if he can. gets trounced again, his total chances are cooked. That's why I was surprised that he was going to take this fight. Honestly, this is probably his last chance. Wow, that sun is coming right through here.

It is bright. How about that? I'm going to have like a tan on the side of my face. Like, I'm not surprised Barab is turning around so quickly. I am surprised Jan is taking this fight by the end of the year. so hey we appreciate questions here this is why we're here i want to hear from you guys i want to hear your reaction to this i already gave you mine talbot is a chance to elevate himself with a win over henry if henry wins this kind of solidifies him as still having something else in the tank

yeah but again like i feel like that's a good way to go out more from lazy bed our new intern what is the better scenario for talbot completely starching sehudo cold in the first round and going three dominant rounds to a decision i think just a win here and not a boring one is very good for him. Suhudo's pretty tough. Like, he's very tough to finish. So it would be pretty wild if he did finish him. So I said Henry had a fight coming up.

I just didn't know who seen him say he couldn't go to the fights because he was in camp and it wouldn't be good. Yeah. There you go. Is the Brady fight confirmed or only being pushed by aggregators? There's smoke to the fire. I will say that. I mean, I had been teasing on previous shows that there was something cooking for Sean Brady.

And even Joe Piper kind of alluded to it at Media Day saying that, hey, he's got something, but it's not for me to announce. That's what I had heard was that was the fight. But again, I have not like 1,000% confirmed it. I know it's out there now. And apparently Hunter Campbell is being used as a name to confirm the fight. So I have heard this is the fight I was talking about. So I'll say, what's the right way to say it? I will not be surprised if that announcement comes soon.

I'll say that. Dirty rag, getting down to Marab early and often. There you go. What about Moreno and Tyra? That's a really interesting fight. You have to imagine that the winner of that fight has a very good chance to get the winner of the co-main event. Like I know Pantosia and Moreno have fought a bunch of times,

and Moreno is yet to beat him, but honestly, as fight fans who enjoy high-level fights and super-fun fights, are we really going to be upset if we get Moreno Pantosia again? I certainly wouldn't. If Tyra wins, that's another fresh opponent for Pants. And if Van wins, those are both great fights. Those are both really fun.

So, yeah. I mean, that's a high-stakes fight. And it could be one of those situations where, It's kind of like the Josh Van Brannroy Val fight, where Moreno and Tyra fight it out, and the winner will sit cage side and maybe get into the cage with whoever wins the title fight. Be a cool little moment.

Where does Shafkat fit into this? I have no effing idea. T-Rex Dunkin also goes on. Yeah, I mentioned that. That's going to be fun. I don't see McKinney winning that fight, but you never know. He's all action.

Duncan's looks so good, man. Like, he has just looked so good. Am I excited for Hermanson versus Oralbi? I don't know if excited is the word. I'm definitely intrigued by it. Because Oralby is really good. Hermantz had dropped into welterweight at this point in his career is obviously very interesting.

You have to imagine that weight cut is going to affect him to some degree. And if you're affected by a weight cut, mcta beck oral by is an effort to get into that octagon with if you're struggling with cutting weight from before yeah look at the golden hour holy shitballs uh heard chafcott has another injuries out longer it's not true that's not true someone reported that i obviously asked about it and no so yeah there you go that's 323 dana white keeping us all busy uh appreciate all of you especially like a lot of people had work off and school off and all sorts of stuff.

I got back from Massachusetts yesterday on no sleep. And yeah, kind of the lone wolf here in South Carolina at the moment, me and the pooch, who I hadn't seen in like six days. So he was bummed out when I picked him up, but he was obviously very excited. So it's good to have Shiloh back in the house. It's good to be back in South Carolina. I got to play a little golf today, shot the best round of my life out there. which is really nice, but I came home,

took a shower and hopped on with all of you guys because that's what we're here for. We are the people's website. We're here for all of you guys. And if there's other announcements coming up, we will get after it. So if you guys are getting in late, just rewatch this.

If you did shut some golf today on a master's course. How about that? Yeah, I did not play a master's course. So, Green Ranger. sister got married in hilton head it's a damn good place uh i could drive to hildenhead in like 20 minutes so very cool are you not considering doing any more of those golf interviews you did that was great i would love to do that uh i would love to do that all the time so let let the higher ups know that

that's what you want to see uh because i think i think we could do something really big with this and without Casey here, that's going to be tough to do. So hopefully if we fill that spot, we could start doing some more stuff. But I do have some very fun stuff coming up for you guys. The Yuri interview just dropped so you can check that out. I did speak to Gable Steven. Tomorrow, tomorrow I'm doing an interview. I'm actually doing a dual interview.

And not only am I doing this dual interview with two very, two names you will recognize for sure. One very big name in the fighting world. One very big name in the UFC, but he's not a fighter. It's kind of a duel. I think you guys will dig it. And then after we do the interview, we can, we're going to do like, you know, that we do this trivia game that you guys see on the website every single day. Well, I'm going to do a little game show with these two people. And we're going to test their knowledge in a very similar game that you guys see every single morning and it'll and it's going to be one of the it's going to be awesome it's got to be awesome so stay tuned for that and can you get an arnold interview at some point oh arnold allen i thought

you meant all that would be cool too but yeah i've talked to arlyleine before i would love to talk to him again uh i actually am surprised he's not back yet i had heard september october he was looking to fight. So yeah, we shall see. But all right, we're going to get out of here. Thank you all very much. We appreciate you. You guys are the best. Let me find our exit music. That's the one. Casey can leave, but he ain't taking Beachcomber with him. That's for sure. But yeah, lots of stuff going on this week. Stay tuned to Tammatefiting.com for all of it. We got UFC Vancouver, which is the last stop before we head to Abu Dhabi for UFC 321. More interviews coming up. I know Damon talked to RDR.

You talk to Brandon Allen. And I'm going to be speaking to John Anick this week as well to get you ready for 321. It's been a minute since I linked up with my fellow Bostonian. So things are going to heat up real quick here at M.Afighting.com. So stick with us. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. We appreciate you.

Mike Heck here. And I'm out of here. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Unwrap holiday magic at Holt Renfrew with gifts that say I know you. From festive and cozy fashion to luck. beauty and fragrance sets. Our special selection has something for every style and price point. Visit our Holt's holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com.

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