UFC 311 just landed two title fights with Islam Makhachev defending his lightweight belt against Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch in the main event while Merab Dvalishvili puts his bantamweight strap up for grabs against Umar Nurmagomedov in the co-main event on Jan. 18 at the new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
UFC CEO Dana White announced the fights on Wednesday.
While Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan has long been expected for the January pay-per-view, the bantamweight title fight apparently came together at the last minute.
Dvalishvili originally stated that he wanted to return in March but that timeline didn’t work for Nurmagomedov with Ramadan starting the same month. That led to more than a few ugly exchanges between them with Dvalisvhili eventually turning his attention to a potential rematch against Petr Yan while Nurmagomedov said he was ready to fight anybody the UFC would throw at him.
That all changed this week with White revealing details about how the fight came together.
“Merab came into the office late last night, told us he is tired of listening to Umar disrespect him, and wanted to make this fight happen as soon as possible,” White said. “We called Umar, he was sleeping in Dagestan and he said ‘hell yes, anywhere, anytime.”
Dvalishvili enters the fight off 11 consecutive wins including his victory to dethrone Sean O’Malley and become bantamweight champion. Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov sports a perfect 18-0 recording including six wins in the UFC.
As for the main event, Makhachev runs it back with Tsarukyan after they first met in a Fight of the Night back in 2019. While Makhachev won the initial meeting, Tsarukyan gave him a tough time, especially considering he accepted the matchup on short notice.
Now nearly six years later they’ll meet again with Makhachev seeking his fourth straight title defense after a pair of wins over Alexander Volkanovski and his most recent victory against Dustin Poirier. Tsarukyan has now won four in a row with a 9-1 resume since falling to Makhachev in his octagon debut.
Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan 2 and Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov headline UFC 311 with more fights expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
