LAS VEGAS – The UFC returns to its de facto home at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday for the last numbered pay-per-view event of the ESPN era, featuring a packed main card from top to bottom.
Headlining the show is bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili, who’s seeking his fourth title defense of the year against an opponent he has a past with in Petr Yan. The co-main event features seasoned legend and flyweight champion Alexandre “The Cannibal” Pantoja taking on 23-year-old rising star Joshua Van, who has ascended rapidly in 2025 after beating Brandon Royval in the Fight of the Year.
Dvalishvili vs Yan 2
This rematch honestly doesn’t make much sense to me, given how thoroughly Dvalishvili destroyed Yan when they headlined a UFC Fight Night against each other in March 2023. Yan entered that fight as a heavily-favored ex-champion with a pair of split decision losses to Sean O’Malley and Aljamain Sterling serving as the only blemishes on his record, but Dvalishvili embarrassed Yan to a point that significantly diminished the latter’s standing in the sport.
Dvalishvili was a locomotive throughout the fight, never even giving Yan a chance to take his breath. It was a borderline stunning suffocation at the time, but given what we know about the fighters now, it was all but a foregone conclusion that what occurred was always going to happen.
In Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, both fighters made it very clear that they know the reality of Saturday’s fight. Yan very bluntly insisted that he expects to knock Dvalishvili out when asked about his potential paths to victory, while Dvalishvili conceded that he expects Yan to be the aggressor in the fight. And that’s exactly what he wants.
“He will chase me and I'm sure he will try to knock me out,’ Dvalishvili said. “Because that's the only way he can stop me. If we fight to a decision, I am the decision machine.”
Yan also doubled down on the fact that he was fighting with an injured arm during the first fight, which prompted Dvalishvili to challenge him on the fact that years later he was still making excuses for such a decisive loss.
“Petr, you’re better than this, bro,” Dvalishvili said. “Stop making excuses, please. No excuses. When I beat you on (Saturday), what excuse are you going to make? Tell me now. Do you have any injuries now?”
Yan’s answer was no. He has a clean bill of health for Saturday.
“Guys, I feel great,” Yan said. “This Saturday, you will see me in my best form. You are going to see me in the best shape of my life.”
Pantoja vs. Van
For my money, 24-year-old Joshua Van has been the single most interesting story in combat sports this year. A year ago this weekend, he defeated Cody Durden during the early prelims of UFC 310 in front of a dead empty arena. On Saturday, he’ll be looking to dethrone arguably the greatest flyweight of all time in Alexandre Pantoja to become the first fighter born in the 2000s to win a UFC title belt.
In the months leading up to Van's defeat of then-No. 1 contender Brandon Royval in an instant classic slugfest at UFC 317 in June, he was still living with his mother as they worked to build each other up after the sudden passing of his father. He moved his mom into her new house in the weeks before that fight with Royval, and at UFC 317 he cemented his place as the UFC’s newest must-see star with his show-stopping performance that night.
Make no mistake, however, Saturday night is a whole different animal. Brandon Royval is a really good, sometimes even great fighter. Alexandre Pantoja is on the short list of greatest flyweight fighters to ever live and that list could be as short as one name if he dismantles Van in the way that many believe he is still capable of.
That doesn’t mean Pantoja doesn’t respect the challenger that will have over a decade of youth on him Saturday. He knows it only takes one powerful sequence from someone that explosive to put even the toughest man to sleep. But Pantoja’s been in this game for nearly two decades and has fought some of the most feared names in the sport’s history. It’s hard to imagine he isn’t salivating at this challenge, even if he’s approaching it with grace.
“Joshua Van shows you a lot of good skills, but I’ve been a professional fighter for close 20 years,” Pantoja said. “I’ve off with the best fighters in the world. I want that challenge. I want that moment. I want to feel Joshua Van in the octagon and I want to bring back this belt to my house.”
While Van is certainly grateful to be fighting the man he’s personally called the greatest flyweight of all time, he has confidence that he’ll be the reason Pantoja won’t be bringing a belt back home after Saturday night.
“It’s a blessing to be in a case, with one of the greatest of all time,” Van said. “Saturday night, I'm going to take his belt, but it's all respect and love at the end of the day, man.”