The final UFC pay-per-view event of the ESPN era delivered an exciting night of fights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as two new champions were crowned atop the fight card.
UFC 323 power rankings
RDX Sports’Editor-in-chief and experienced MMA writer Simon Head takes a look at the main card winners and presents his Power Rankings for UFC 323: Dvalishvili vs Yan 2.
Peter Jan
Every time a fighter wins a UFC title, it’s a special occasion. When a former champion bounces back and reclaims his old title, it might be even more special. But for Petr Yan, Saturday night’s victory was on a completely different level.
Yan had lost his title to Aljamain Sterling via disqualification, won the interim title to earn a rematch, and then lost to Sterling again. At that moment it felt like he had to climb a mountain to get back to the belt.
But when he was then defeated on the scorecards by both Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili to take his losing skid to three, that mountain seemed as big as Everest.
But Yan never lost his talent, and after a year away he returned to score three straight victories, beating Song Yadong, Deiveson Figueiredo and Marcus McGhee for another shot at the gold.
Standing in his way was Dvalishvili, who had defeated him so convincingly in their first meeting. But in the rematch, Yan produced the performance of his career as he neutralized the Georgian’s brutal takedown attack and then punished him on the feet with good boxing.
It was a brilliant performance and one of the very best performances we’ve seen from a title challenger in 2025.
Tatsuro Taira
Now that a new champion has been crowned at 125 pounds (see below) and the former champion will likely be out of action for a while, the door is open for a new contender to step in and challenge for the title. Tatsuro Taira could be that man.
Taira delivered a big performance in his biggest UFC fight to date as he defeated former two-time flyweight champion Brandon Moreno via second-round TKO. It was a performance that proved the Japanese competitor was ready to close the gap between the chasing pack and the leading men at the top of the 125-pound division.
Taira was Octagonside for Joshua Van’s title win in the co-main event, and Joe Rogan checked out the Japanese star during Van’s post-fight interview. A fight between the two seems very likely, and who knows, it might even happen in Taira’s home country, with the UFC reportedly considering a return to Japan in 2026.
Joshua Van
Winning a UFC title would normally warrant a higher spot in the power rankings, but Van’s manner of capturing championship gold was far from perfect for the Myanmar-born, Texas-based fighter.
Van’s rise has made him a popular presence at the top of the flyweight division, but his victory over Alexandra Pantoja was the result of a freak injury rather than Van’s MMA excellence. Unfortunately, this meant that the victory, which should have been a huge, memorable battle, ended up being an almost accidental victory.
Pantoja’s arm injury, suffered just 26 seconds into the fight, meant the champion was unable to continue as he lost via TKO due to injury. And when one man loses by injury (TKO), another man wins in the same way. That man was Van, who celebrated his title win regardless of how it arrived.
But now Van will have to defend his title, and the aforementioned Taira appears to be in pole position to challenge him first. It’s likely that only a great performance from Brandon Royval or Manel Kape in this weekend’s main event will change that plan.
Van is the new champion, but I suspect some fans will want him to win a title fight in a more acceptable manner.
Payton Talbott
The main bantamweight fight between Henry Cejudo and Payton Talbott was the farewell fight for the former two-division UFC champion. But as is often the case in martial arts, he didn’t get the chance to walk away with a victory.
Payton Talbott raised his game to match and surpass a Cejudo who was certainly not on the same level that saw him win the bantamweight and flyweight titles. But it was still Henry Cejudo, and Talbott didn’t let his respect for the retiring legend get in the way of his work, as he emerged as the decisive winner on the scorecards and claimed a shutout victory to improve his record to 11-1.
That win, coupled with Cejudo’s subsequent retirement, should see Talbott break into the UFC bantamweight rankings as a new chapter opens for the Reno native in 2026.
Simon Head is Editor-in-Chief at renowned combat sports equipment company RDX Sports. Check out their latest range MMA fighting gear Today.
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