Preview: UFC 323 Prelims

Featherweights

Mairon Santos (16-1, 3-0 UFC) vs. Muhammadjon Naimov (13-3, 5-1 UFC)

BETTING ODDS: Santos (-278), Naimov (+225)

Santos’s post-reality series career has been impressive, but he would still be served well with a big performance. Santos was on the UFC’s radar for a while prior to winning the featherweight bracket of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2024, including briefly being slated for a late-notice debut in 2023 that eventually fell through. It was easy to see why, as the Brazilian was a massive power puncher with plenty of physical upside, but the worry going forward was that he would be a bit too choosy to consistently win rounds against a better level of competition. Those concerns have held true despite Santos winning both of his fights in 2025. His decision victory over Francis Marshall was one of the worst verdicts of the year, and while Santos did well to outpunch Sodiq Yusuff in his last bout, the impact of that result was dulled a bit by his counterpart looking extremely flat. Still, Santos has some obvious skills in terms of feel and physicality that cannot be taught, so he’s clearly a prospect worth watching, and it will be fascinating to see how he handles this matchup against Naimov.

Naimov is a bit limited in terms of skill, which should continue to give him a ceiling in a deep featherweight division, but Tajikistan’s “Hillman” should continue to remain competitive against any opponent. Naimov is an absolute bruiser at 145 pounds, capable of dragging his opponents into the ugliest fight possible. That was quite evident in Naimov’s signature UFC win—a grind against former bantamweight Nathaniel Wood—but as the UFC has started to match him with other strong featherweights, the result has been some messy but entertaining brawls as each man tries to seize some control of the proceedings. This should be another ugly affair and Naimov should be able to make this a grind at points, but Santos also figures to be the harder hitter by far when given the opportunity. The pick is Santos via decision.

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