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UFC 323 was perhaps one of the BEST cards of 2025 with insane finishes, fights, two new champions, dampened only by questionable refereeing and one unfortunate injury, leading to the temporary end of Alexandre Pantoja’s legendary title reign.
Maycee Barber defeats Karine Silva by Unanimous Decision (29-28) (29-28) (30-27)
While there was no real problem with the scoring of this fight itself, there was a specific issue with the refereeing of this fight, particularly with the way Referee Mark Smith conducted several illegal up-kicks from Karine Silva.
The first kick occurred at the end of the first round, with Maycee Barber attempting to land ground and pound shots on Silva, though the Brazilian landed an illegal up kick. Barber was able to continue with no problems, though Silva was alerted at the end of the round not to repeat the fault. It also had no compromise on Barber’s performance towards the end of the round.
The second kick happened in similar fashion, though this time in the second round. The reaction from the American was far more concerning, seemingly off balance. At this point, referee Mark Smith tells her, “It wasn’t that bad”, underplaying the severity of the penalty. Obviously, Smith isn’t allowed to intervene in this fashion, even being alerted by Jeff Mullen, from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Upon replay, Barber was hit with a clean shot on her jaw, therefore the reaction was completely understandable.
Luckily , Barber was able to continue with her fight and she won the fight with some comfort, setting her up for a potential title eliminator after her long layoff. We must question however, if a point deduction wasn’t valid, especially after a second repeated penalty of this severity.
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Jan Blachowicz vs Bogdan Guskov ends in Majority Draw (28-28, 28-28, 29-28)
Former champion Jan Blachowicz came into this fight on the tail end of three straight close fights. The odds for this fight against rising prospect Bogdan Guskov were quite balanced and the fight, despite being highly entertaining, ended with neither fighter getting their hand raised and in all honesty, this was the correct decision.
The first round was quite tame, with Blachowicz having the front step for most of the round, outlanding Guskov by 4 strikes. The strikes from the Legendary Polish Power were more impactful and it seemed the pressure was all from his end. All judges unanimously awarded this for Jan.
The second round seemed to be heading the same direction, only for Guskov to land a vicious straight, dropping Jan. A flurry of ground and pound followed a few sequences leading fans to believe the fight was closer to an end. Guskov had nearly 4 minutes of top control, while out-striking Guskov by 22 significant strikes. Personally, this was an easy 10-8 Round, due to the fight nearly ending on multiple occasions. Two of the three judges awarded this a 10-8 Round, with Chris Lee maintaining it a 10-9.
The third round saw Jan with more urgency. Since the first round was somewhat close and the second round was a dominant round for Guskov, Jan increased the aggression, outstriking Guskov 48 to 27, and even dropped the Kazakh towards the end of the round, though not enough time was on the clock for more damage to be done to turn it into a 10-8 or to find a finish.
I believe the 28-28 score-card was the fairest score-card, considering the 10-8 Second Round for Guskov. Personally, this fight could serve as a perfect example for future fights on how draws are adequate for MMA and for when 10-8 Rounds should be awarded for fighters.
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Tatusro Taira defeats Brandon Moreno by R2 TKO
The youth of the Flyweight Division expressed itself even further this past weekend as Tatsuro Taira captured a statement win over former champion Brandon Moreno. When breaking down the fight, we have a couple of moments to highlight and to no surprise of the reader, it will be about Referee Mark Smith, who’s decision making continues to baffle myself and other viewers of the sport.
During the first round, Tatsuro Taira is caught in an arm triangle while attempting to fully secure a takedown. Brandon Moreno had the Submission Attempt secured for most of the round, while Taira spent time attempting to remove himself from the dangerous situation. While the position was stagnant, Moreno was indeed in a “dominant” submission position, meaning a slight mistake from Taira could lead to a submission win from him.
Mark Smith then instructs both fighters to engage in further action, as if Moreno isn’t in an offensive position where it could potentially be fight ending. In my opinion, this showcased a lack of knowledge of the sport on Mark Smith’s end, as he was unable to identify the submission attempt. On another end, I do believe referees outside the cage should be in communication with Smith to inform him of their privileged view point via the specific camera angles. This could replicate what we see in soccer with “VAR” or “Video Assistant Referee”.
While the first round was somewhat uneventful, the second round definitely picked up the pace. Taira landed a beautiful takedown, which led to a back take on the former champion. From this position, Taira commenced a flurry of ground and pound on the former champion. Mark Smith gave the usual “Fight Back” message to Moreno, only to shortly after interrupt the action.
In my opinion, the stoppage was slightly early, though not something egregious as we’ve seen before. As an avid critic of Mark Smith, I do criticize the stoppage, though frankly there was little to no chance that Moreno would be able to leave the situation at hand in ten or more seconds.
Joshua Van defeats Alexandre Pantoja by R1 TKO
We officially have a new Flyweight Champion and it perhaps came in the most distasteful form possible. With 26 Seconds of the very First Round, Alexandre Pantoja landed a kick to the side of the head of Joshua Van, though unfortunately was unable to balance himself correctly, leading to him dislocating his elbow.
Pantoja immediately informed Herb Dean that he would be unable to continue, hence decaring Van the winner by TKO. The decision was correct, and there was no problem with protocol, though we must address if these rules are necessarily fair.
In my opinion, an unprovoked injury within the first few seconds of a fight shouldn’t award a fighter with a Technical Knockout and should instead be a No Contest. Van was correctly declared a winner and the organization should reschedule a rematch with Pantoja. Despite all this, Pantoja goes home without a belt after what I would call a “Fluke Injury” because truthfully, Joshua Van committed zero damage that would honestly cause a traditional finish. Most fans would agree we were on the cusp of a beautiful war between two elite fighters that we hopefully get to see fully within the not so distant future.
After the broadcast confirmed that it was a shoulder injury for the Brazilian, Pantoja’s camp later on corrected that it was in fact and elbow injury, with further details coming out in the next few days. Depending on the time of recovery we could see an immediate rematch. In the worst case, we should see a fight between Taira and Joshua Van, while assuring Pantoja receives a shot at the belt immediately upon his return.
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