UFC 323 is almost here! Saturday night, the final PPV of the ESPN era takes place inside T-Mobile Arena in Enterprise, NV. Live coverage of the show begins with the early prelims at 6 pm ET/ 3 pm PT on ESPN+ and FX inside the United States of America, as well as UFC Fight Pass worldwide.
Late prelims from UFC 323 follow at 8 pm ET/ 5 pm PT on ESPN+ and FX before moving onto the five-fight main card to cap this year’s pay-per-view schedule at 10 pm ET/ 7 pm PT on ESPN+ exclusively.
This is the penultimate show of the run of UFC on ESPN. Next week’s card from the UFC Apex, UFC Vegas 112, serves as the final UFC show on the Disney-owned cabler after a seven-year stint.
Embed from Getty Images
Earlier this morning, the official weigh-in window for Saturday’s card took place. By and large, today’s weigh-ins for UFC 323 were successful.
Two UFC 323 Undercard Fighters Miss Target at Official Weigh-Ins Today
However, that isn’t to say that the entire process saw the fighters get through unscathed. A pair of fighters on the early portion of the undercard came in heavy during the morning weigh-ins on Friday.
Mairon Santos (147 1/2 lbs), who will be fighting Muhammad Naimov (146 lbs), exceeded the nontitle maximum for featherweight contenders by 1 1/2 lbs. As such, Santos will cede 20 percent of his wages to Naimov for UFC 323.
Another contestant will be ceding pay to their opposition after coming in over the prescribed poundage earlier this morning. Brunno Ferreira (189 lbs) will give up 20 percent of his wages to his opponent Marvin Vettori (186 lbs) for their middleweight bout on the featured early prelim. Both fights in question are still happening for this weekend.
UFC 323 Title Fight Doubleheader Cleared for Takeoff After Friday Morning Weigh-Ins
Both title fights for UFC 323 on Saturday night are confirmed to be going ahead as scheduled after their contestants each weighed-in within the championship maximum. The UFC Bantamweight Championship is at stake in the main event of the evening when Merab Dvalishvili (135 lbs) battles Petr Yan (135 lbs.) This is a rematch of a March 2023 fight won by the former (unanimous decision.)
Your co-main event sees the UFC Flyweight Championship on the line. Alexandre Pantoja (125 lbs) takes on Joshua Van (124 1/2 lbs.) Both title fights are an advertised maximum of five rounds at five minutes per round.
UFC 323 Weigh-In Results:
Main Card: (Tomorrow, 10 pm ET/ 7 pm PT, ESPN+ pay-per-view)
Main Event: Merab Dvalishvili (135 lbs) vs. Petr Yan (135 lbs) UFC Flyweight Championship.
Co-Main Event: Alexandre Pantoja (125 lbs) vs. Joshua Van (124 1/2 lbs) UFC Flyweight Championship.
Brandon Moreno (125 lbs) vs. Tatsuro Taira (126 lbs) Flyweight
Henry Cejudo (136 lbs) vs. Payton Talbott (136 lbs) Bantamweight: Cejudo will be making his final career appearance at UFC 323 Saturday night.
Jan Blachowicz (206 lbs) vs. Bogdan Guskov (206 lbs) Light Heavyweight
Late Prelims: (Tomorrow, 8 pm ET/ 5 pm PT, ESPN+ and FX)
Featured Prelim: Grant Dawson (156 lbs) vs. Manuel Torres (156 lbs) Lightweight
Co-Featured Prelim: Terrance McKinney (156 lbs) vs. Chris Duncan (156 lbs) Lightweight
Maycee Barber (125 1/2 lbs) vs. Karine Silva (125 1/2 lbs) Women’s Flyweight
Nazim Sadykhov (155 1/2 lbs) vs. Fares Ziam (156 lbs) Lightweight
Early Prelims: (Tomorrow, 6 pm ET/ 3 pm PT, ESPN+ and FX- United States Only, UFC Fight Pass-Worldwide)
Featured Early Prelim: Marvin Vettori (186 lbs) vs. Brunno Ferreira (189 lbs) Middleweight: Ferreira missed weight and cedes 20 percent of pay to Vettori.
Co-Featured Early Prelim: Edson Barboza (155 1/2 lbs) vs. Jalin Turner (155 lbs) Lightweight
Iwo Baraniewski (206 lbs) vs. Ibo Aslan (205 1/2 lbs) Light Heavyweight: Baraniewski will be making his UFC debut tomorrow night at UFC 323.
Mansur Abdul-Malik (185 1/2 lbs) vs. Antonio Trocoli (186 lbs) Middleweight
Muhammad Naimov (146 lbs) vs. Mairon Santos (147 1/2 lbs) Featherweight: Santos missed weight and cedes 20 percent of pay to Naimov.
