Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is gearing up to stage its first pay-per-view (PPV) event of the New Year later TONIGHT (Sat., Jan 18, 2025), as UFC 311 is set to go down inside the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, Calif. Headlining the ESPN+ PPV card will be a re-worked lightweight title fight as division champion, Islam Makhachev, will face Renato Moicano. In the second part of the championship doubleheader, bantamweight champion, Merab Dvalishvili, will defend his belt against No. 1 contender, Umar Nurmagomedov.
What’s Hot:
It’s a big week for Team Nurmagomedov, as head coach, Khabib Nurmagomedov, will be coaching three of his top fighters in major world title fights. Next Saturday, (Jan, 25, 2025), “The Eagle” will fly over to Dubai — not via Frontier — to corner Usman Nurmagomedov as he defends his lightweight belt against Paul Hughes at PFL’s “Road to Dubai” event. Before then, however, Khabib will be in the corner of Makhachev, who will defend his title against Moicano. Also, Umar Nurmagomedov will attempt to win his first major world title when he battles bantamweight champion, Merab Dvalishvili, in the co-main event.
After leaving the sport in Oct. 2020, Khabib vowed that the 155-pound division would be in good hands and predicted that Makhachev would reign supreme in his absence. Two years later, that prophecy was fulfilled as Makhachev won the title by submitting Charles Oliviera at UFC 280, and has since defended his belt three straight times. With a record of 26-1, Makhachev eventually overtook Jon Jones as the No. 1 best pound-for-pound fighter in the world on the official UFC rankings. Now, the lightweight king will attempt to add to his ever-growing resume with his fourth straight title defense — which will be one more than Khabib had.
Moicano has an opportunity of a lifetime here after stepping in to fill the void on one day’s notice following the withdrawal of Arman Tsarukyan from the main event (details here). Moicano — who originally set to face Beneil Dariush — is currently on a four-fight win streak, so he is on nice rhythm coming into this short-notice fight. Granted, for his first-ever shot at winning a UFC title I am sure he would have loved more time to prepare, especially against the pound-for-pound best fighter in the game, but he didn’t hesitate one bit to jump at the chance to shock the world. Can he do it? Anything is possible and one punch can end it all in the blink of an eye. That said, Makhachev is simply firing on all cylinders and he will be too much for “Money,” who will undoubtedly be nicely-compensated for saving the day. Still, if Moicano manages to somehow get the win, it will be the biggest upset since Matt Serra took out Georges St-Pierre at UFC 269.
What’s Not:
There’s not much to complain about with this event. UFC wanted to start off its PPV run with a bang and on paper this card looks like it will deliver just that because it is so well-rounded from top to bottom, even with the late main event switch. However, I have a little issue with the Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos fight. Talbott has been nothing short of impressive during his UFC run, or his overall MMA career for that matter. Undefeated at 9-0, Talbott — who made his way into the big show via the Contender Series — has won his first three fights inside the Octagon with impressive stoppages, and will attempt to secure his fourth against one of the most experienced fighters he’s faced in Barcelos, who has struggled as of late, going a paltry 2-4 in his last six fights. I would have liked to have seen Talbott get a batter matchup here against someone who offers a bit more upside.
Original Card Vs. Actual Card:
Of course, the big blow came just a little over 24 hours from fight night after Dana White dropped the bombshell that Arman Tsarukyan had to bow out of his lightweight title fight against Makhachev due to a bad back. Thankfully, Renato Moicano stepped up to the plate in a big way to save the day. Also, Zachary Reese and Sedriques Dumas were expected to meet in a middleweight affair before Dumas pulled out for undisclosed reasons. He was ultimately replaced by current Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) 185-pound champion, Azamat Bekoev.
Injuries:
Aside from Tsarukyan’s bad back, Johnny Walker was forced out of his light heavyweight fight against Bogdan Guskov with a foot injury. Stepping in to fill the void is UFC newcomer, Billy Elekana, who jumped at the chance to get a shot on the big stage on short notice.
New Blood:
After Sedriques Dumas was forced out of his fight against Zachary Reese, Azamat Bekoev — who is the current middleweight champion for LFA — was given the last-minute opportunity to make the jump to the big leagues. Bekoev is currently on a six-fight win streak with an overall record of 18-3, which includes 14 stoppage victories. As for Reese, he has racked up two straight wins under the UFC banner after losing his debut against Cody Brundage.
Billy Elekana stepped in to fill he void left behind by Johnny Walker to face off against Bogdan Guskov on the undercard. The up-and-coming 205-pound contender would have probably liked a bit more notice in his UFC debut, but when opportunity knocks it would be foolish for a young fighter to not open it. He is currently 7-1 with four stoppage wins at the age of 29. As for Guskov, he has secured back-to-back wins over Ryan Spann and Zac Pauga after coming up short in his UFC debut against Volkan Oezdemir.
How The ‘Prelims’ Look:
In what should be a tightly-contested lightweight bout Grant Dawson will face off against Diego Ferreira in a fight that will see the victor collect his first three-fight win streak in quite a while. Dawson is coming off a technical knockout win over Rafa Garcia in Oct. 2024, while Ferreira stopped Mateusz Rebecki via strikes last summer.
Ailin Perez stumbled out of the gates in her UFC debut against Stephanie Egger, but has since turned things around greatly by racking up four straight wins. Her opponent, Karol Rosa, has been pretty inconsistent over the last three years, alternating wins and losses to the tune of a 3-3 record in that span.
Rinya Nakamura will attempt to keep his undefeated (9-0, 5-0 UFC) record intact against Muin Gafurov, who snapped his two-fight losing streak by securing a much-needed win last summer against Kyung Ho Kang. Nakamura has proven to be a future threat for any bantamweight standing in front of him. As for Gafurov, while he has struggled mightily since joining the UFC ranks, handing Nakamura his first defeat would be a huge feather in his cap.
Bernardo Sopai came up short in his UFC debut against Vinicius Oliveira, snapping his three-fight win streak. He will try to collect his first win inside the Octagon when he battles Ricky Turcios, who is also in search of a much-needed win after he was submitted by Raul Rosas Jr. last summer.
Kicking off the undercard is a flyweight fight between Clayton Carpenter and Tagir Ulanbekov. Carpenter is currently undefeated (8-0, 2-0 UFC) with six stoppage wins to boast of. As for Ulanbekov, he is 4-1 inside the Octagon, with his lone defeat coming against former division title contender, Tim Elliott.
Who Needs A Win Badly:
Kevin Holland has seen better days. “Trailblazer” has lost three of his last four fights and is just 3-5 in his last eight. Holland simply has not been winning on a consistent basis, and things will only get tougher for him when he takes on Reinier de Ridder, who is 1-0 inside the Octagon. The former ONE middleweight and light heavyweight champion submitted Gerald Meerschaert in his official UFC debut last November. He has all the tools to give Holland nightmares and, quite frankly, he is a lot more polished in his overall game.
Interest Level: 8.5/10
In the co-main event, Merab Dvalishvili will attempt to successfully defended his 135-pound title for the first time since taking it away from Sean O’Malley. And his first test is a big one because Umar Nurmagomedov doesn’t know the meaning of defeat, racking up 18 straight wins to kick off his MMA career, including winning his first six bouts inside the Octagon. While most expect this fight to be a grapple fest, I wouldn’t be too quick to bet the house on it.
Both men are excellent grapplers in their own right, which leads me to believe they will cancel each other out. This fight will come down to who can put their striking together the best. Dvalishvili’s strength of schedule is a lot better than that of Nurmagomedov’s, so he will be very prepared for anything he and coach Khabib throw his way, Still, Nurmagomedov has proven that he is capable of taking on any challenge and persevere. The two already have a built-in rivalry that only intensified after one of Nurmagomedov’s alleged camp members lured Merab into a scuffle during UFC 310. And when you couple that with stories of betrayal, things are very tense between the two camps at the moment.
Jamahal Hill has quickly become a UFC villain no one ever saw coming, and it’s in large part due to the fact that he simply can not accept his knockout loss at the hands of current 205-pound champion, Alex Pereira. Starting fights at the UFC PI and not following up on the talk didn’t help his cause, either, so the only thing he can do to try to win some fans back is get a win against Jiri Prochazka in order put his hat into title fight consideration. Like Hill, Prochazka’s last defeat also came via devastating knockout at the hands of “Poatan,” so the two men share that in common.
Hill fancies himself as a knockout artist, and while he does have seven wins via KO, you don’t really think of him as a striking specialist. But if he chooses to play that game with Prochazka, it won’t end will with him because the Czech has 26 knockouts in 30 victories on his resume. He has great technique and devastating power to go with it, while Hill is more of an unorthodox striker. If it stays on the feet — which I think it will — Prochazka will have more success and ultimately put his foe out to pasture.
Jailton Almeida jumped out of the gates impressively with six straight wins to begin his UFC career, but suffered a huge setback when he ran into Curtis Blaydes at UFC 299. But he showed his ability to bounce back after a loss by submitting Alexander Romanov three months later at UFC 302 (see it again here). He will look to build on that momentum when he battles Serghei Spivac, who has been impressive by going 7-2 in his last nine fights inside the Octagon, which includes five finishes. This fight was promoted to the main card following the news of Renato Moicano getting bumped up to the main event, which cancelled his main card showdown against Beneil Dariush.
Enjoy the fights!
Full UFC 311 Fight Card:
UFC 311 PPV Main Event on ESPN+ PPV:
155 lbs.: UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev vs. Renato Moicano (not Arman Tsarukyan)
UFC 311 PPV Main Card on ESPN+ PPV:
135 lbs.: UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
205 lbs.: Jiri Prochazka vs. Jamahal Hill
185 lbs.: Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
265 lbs.: Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
UFC 311 ‘Prelims’ Card on ESPNN/Disney+/ESPN+ (8 p.m. ET):
135 lbs.: Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
185 lbs.: Zach Reese vs. Azamat Bekoev (not Sedriques Dumas)
205 lbs.: Bogdan Guskov vs. Billy Elekana (not Johnny Walker)
155 lbs.: Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
UFC 311 Early ‘Prelims’ Card on Disney+/ESPN+ (6 p.m. ET):
135 lbs.: Karol Rosa vs. Ailin Perez
135 lbs.: Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
135 lbs.: Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopai
125 lbs.: Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter
*Fight card, bout order and number of fights remain subject to change.*
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 311 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+/ESPNEWS “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, before the main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 311: “Makhachev vs. Moicano” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.