The title fight in the co-main event slot of UFC 323 won’t be the card’s only major flyweight battle.
Top contenders Brandon Moreno and Tatsuro Taira will collide in a three-round bout on the Dec. 6 card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, two people with knowledge of the situation told MMA Junkie on Monday. The promotion officially announced the bout shortly thereafter.
Moreno (23-8-2 MMA, 11-5-2 UFC) has won consecutive unanimous decisions over Amir Albazi and Steve Erceg since his split decision loss to Brandon Royval in February 2024.
Taira (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) most recently competed in August when he defeated short-notice replacement Hyun Sung Park and bounced back from a split decision loss of his own to Royval.
Moreno and Taira will jostle for divisional position atop a crowded flyweight landscape as they share the card with champion Alexandre Pantoja (30-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) as he battles red-hot Joshua Van (15-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) in a five-round title fight.
With the additions, the UFC 323 lineup now includes:
- Champ Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan – for bantamweight title
- Champ Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van – for flyweight title
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov
- Henry Cejudo vs. Payton Talbott
- Brandon Moreno vs. Tatsuro Taira
- Maycee Barber vs. Karine Silva
- Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Antonio Trocoli
- Chris Duncan vs. Terrance McKinney
- Nazim Sadykhov vs. Fares Ziam
