Spinning Back Clique: UFC 323 preview, major fight announcements, more

Check out this week's "Spinning Back Clique," MMA Junkie's weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.

This week's panel of Brian "Goze" Garcia, Dan Tom and Danny Segura will join host "Gorgeous" George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate the following topics:

• The UFC calendar filled up this past week with some major fight announcements for the first two numbered events for 2026. An interim lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett headlines UFC 324, while a historic women's bantamweight title bout pitting Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes goes down in the co-main event. Many more matchups for UFC 324 were announced, including Sean O'Malley vs. Song Yadong, Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Derrick Lewis, and others. Were these the right fights to make? What's at stake for these bouts? We discuss.

• UFC 325 got its main event with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski rematching Diego Lopes. Is the rematch the best course of action at 145 pounds for the UFC, or should the promotion have pursued a different path?

• We finish off the show with an extensive preview for Saturday's UFC 323, the final pay-per-view event of the year. Two title bouts headline the card: Bantamweight champ Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan 2, and flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van. We break down these two championship fights and highlight other key matchups from the card.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Spinning Back Clique: UFC 323 preview, major fight announcements, more