LAS VEGAS (AP) — Petr Yan stunned Merab Dvalishvili with a dominating effort to capture the bantamweight championship by unanimous decision at UFC 323 on Saturday night.
With punishing strikes and several crushing kicks to the rib cage, Yan (20-5) ended Dvalishvili’s 14-match winning streak.
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Jan Blachowicz, left, takes a punch from Bogdan Guskov, right, in a light heavyweight mixed martial arts bout during UFC 323, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Henry Cejudo, left, is hit with an elbow by Payton Talbott, right, in a bantamweight mixed martial arts bout during UFC 323, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Tatsuro Taira, of Japan, celebrates after defeating Brandon Moreno in a flyweight bout during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja, right, is injured as he falls to the canvas away from Joshua Van during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Petr Yan celebrates with a member of his team after defeating UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
“I’m very happy to stand here with the championship belt, thank you to all the fans,” Yan said, through an interpreter. “I worked so hard, I prepared so hard for this moment.”
Dvalishvili (21-5) hadn’t lost since April 21, 2018, when Ricky Simon won by submission. It was his fourth title match of 2025.
Yan exacted revenge for his last loss when Dvalishvili defeated the 32-year-old by unanimous decision on a UFC Fight Night card on March 11, 2023.
Dvalishvili, 34, closed a -425 favorite, which meant a bettor laid $425 to $100 at BetMGM. Anyone wagering $100 on Yan would have won $320.
“I lost today,” Dvalishvili said. “Congratulations to him.”
In the co-main event, challenger Joshua Van won the flyweight belt from former champion Alexandre Pantoja with a TKO just 26 seconds into the first round after a quirky finish.
In what appeared to be a freak accident, Pantoja (30-6) injured his left shoulder just after throwing a right roundkick to Van’s head. But as Van (16-2) blocked the kick, Pantoja used his left arm to brace his fall, but his arm buckled, and he immediately grabbed it and waved to referee Herb Dean to stop the bout at 26 seconds.
In a display of sportsmanship, Van immediately joined Pantoja on the canvas to check on him once the bout was called.
Also from the main card:
In what was a scheduled three-round flyweight bout, No. 5 Tatsuro Taira (18-1-0) earned the biggest victory of his career, a first-round stoppage over No. 2 Brandon Moreno (23-9-2) at the 2:24 mark of the second round after capitalizing on a rear-mount ground-and-pound.
In a three-round bantamweight match, unranked rising star Payton Talbott (11-1-0) dominated 10th-ranked Henry Cejudo (16-6-0) to earn a 30-27 unanimous decision over the former two-division champion. Cejudo, who fought for the last time, was honored with a tribute video after the bout.
In a three-round light heavyweight bout, fifth-ranked Jan Blachowicz (29-11-2) and 11th-ranked Bogdan Guskov (18-3-1) fought to a majority draw. Blachowicz was given the 29-28 edge by one judge, while two others had it 28-28.
It marked the last UFC pay-per-view fight after the organization agreed to a seven-year contract with Paramount Plus under which future bouts will be on the streaming service. The partnership, which includes the two popular series Dana White’s Contender Series and The Ultimate Fighter, begins Jan. 24 with UFC 324 in Las Vegas.
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Jan Blachowicz, left, takes a punch from Bogdan Guskov, right, in a light heavyweight mixed martial arts bout during UFC 323, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Henry Cejudo, left, is hit with an elbow by Payton Talbott, right, in a bantamweight mixed martial arts bout during UFC 323, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Tatsuro Taira, of Japan, celebrates after defeating Brandon Moreno in a flyweight bout during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja, right, is injured as he falls to the canvas away from Joshua Van during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Petr Yan celebrates with a member of his team after defeating UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Nobody paying attention for the past 24 months would be surprised to see Indiana – yes, Indiana – leading the way into this year’s College Football Playoff.
But anyone paying attention over the last 24 hours knew the only sure thing beyond that was that the selection committee was destined to get destroyed when it released the pairings for this season's 12-team bracket on Sunday.
Most of that second-guessing and vitriol will be coming from Notre Dame, which was passed over for Alabama and Miami for two bubble spots. The Fighting Irish dropped two notches in the CFP rankings over the last two weeks, down to No. 11, despite a 10-game winning streak, winning their finale by 29 points and simply sitting on the couch Saturday.
No. 9 Alabama didn't move at all in the CFP rankings after a 28-7 loss to No. 3 Georgia that looked worse than that. The committee didn't count that against the Tide in keeping with a hazy policy that refrains from penalizing teams for playing in their league title game.
No. 10 Miami didn't play either, but the Hurricanes' 27-24 win over Notre Dame in Week 1 played a role in their move once the teams were grouped right next to each other after BYU lost its game on Saturday. Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said he directed the committee to rewatch the Miami-Notre Dame game again.
“Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, we had the side-by-side comparison that eveyrone had been hungy for,” Yurachek said.
The committee’s other key decision during deliberations that went until 2:30 a.m. Sunday then picked up again after a short rest, was choosing James Madison over Duke for the final spot. The selection left the Atlantic Coast Conference champion out of the mix, but didn’t fully exclude the ACC because Miami made it.
Yurachek insisted that including the ACC — one of the Power Four conferences — in the playoff in some form played no role in the deliberations.
The rest of the field includes No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech, which joined Indiana in getting first-round byes. The Hoosiers moved to No. 1 with their 13-10 win over the Buckeyes on Saturday — their first Big Ten title since 1967 — and their 1-2 positioning sets up a possible rematch in the national title game Jan. 19.
Then it was No. 5 Oregon, followed by Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama, Miami, Tulane and James Madison.
The playoffs start Dec. 19 with No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Oklahoma. On Dec. 20, it's No. 10 Miami at No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 11 Tulane at No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 12 James Madison at No. 5 Oregon.
The quarterfinals will feature Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Eve, then Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, Indiana in the Rose Bowl and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.
This is a particularly costly and painful snub for the Fighting Irish. They lost their first two games of the season – one to Miami, the other to Texas A&M --by a combined four points.
They did not play a tough schedule the rest of the way; it was ranked 44th, compared to 6th for Alabama but 45th for Miami. But they won all those games easily.
It also hurts the pocketbook. Where conferences split $4 million for each team they place into the first round, Notre Dame – as an independent – would have banked the full amount for itself.
Yurachek said the committee had not previously considered Miami’s Aug. 31 win over Notre Dame because there were always other teams in the mix, namely Alabama and BYU. The only real explanation for passing over Notre Dame was that BYU lost badly to Texas Tech and dropped to No. 12.
Alabama (10-3) is in despite three losses. Those who believe the Tide deserve it will look at these factors:
—An eight-game winning streak after that 14-point, season-opening loss to Florida State) that included a 24-21 victory at Georgia and wins over the likes of Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Missouri.
--The “You can’t lose ground for playing in the title game” argument. Last year, Alabama had three losses and was passed over for SMU, which was coming off a loss in the ACC title game. Using the same logic, someone other than the Tide needed to go this time.
Duke tried to make a compelling argument that its seven wins over Power Four teams, including the victory over Virginia in the ACC title game, made it more deserving than James Madison for that fifth and final automatic spot for conference champs.
But the Blue Devils had five losses. And Virginia was ranked four spots (now nine) lower than Miami, the ACC's best team by many measurements.
James Madison's game against a mega-team from a mega-conference — Oregon — will suss out whether teams like that should be playing for the title.
History, however, might look back on Duke's win if league title games are ever eliminated from the schedule due to their growing irrelevance. Other than eliminating BYU (but not Alabama) and flip-flopping Indiana and Ohio State, this year's set of games in the Power Four meant next to nothing.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Georgia running back Chauncey Bowens (33) runs against Alabama during the second half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch (1) celebrates his touchdown against Alabama during the second half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Ohio State's Lorenzo Styles Jr. breaks up a pass intended for Indiana's Omar Cooper Jr. during the first half of the Big Ten championship NCAA college football game in Indianapolis, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
