UFC 310 is in the books, meaning attention will soon turn to the mixed martial arts leader’s next pay-per-view offering, UFC 311 in Los Angeles.
The promotion was in Las Vegas this past week, where the T-Mobile Arena played host to a number of intriguing matchups for its latest major card in “Sin City." Of note were headline wins for Alexandre Pantoja and Shavkat Rakhmonov, as well as important victories for Bryce Mitchell, Dominick Reyes, and Movsar Evloev.
While the aftermath of the Dec. 7 card is currently the talk of the town, it won’t be long until focus sways to the next PPV, and from the flyweight title picture to the lightweight championship conversation.
At UFC 311, set for the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Jan. 18, reigning kingpin Islam Makhachev will open his account for the new year, once again in defense of his 155-pound gold. After following his crowning against Charles Oliveira with retentions opposite Alexander Volkanovski and Dustin Poirier, the Dagestani will next run it back with top contender Arman Tsarukyan.
Stakes will also be high in the co-headliner, as bantamweight champ Merab Dvalishvili looks to defend his gold for the first time since winning it at the expense of Sean O'Malley. In his way of a continued reign will be the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov.
Procházka, Moicano, de Ridder, Set The Stage For High-Profile Headliners At UFC 311
Before Makhachev and Dvalishvili defend their belts, a number of other notable names will take to the Octagon looking to make the most of their position on the major UFC 311 card.
That includes a pair of former light heavyweight champions in Jiří Procházka and Jamahal Hill. After falling to the renowned power of reigning kingpin Alex Pereira this year, both will be looking to bounce back and reinsert themselves into the title picture at 205 pounds.
Prior to that, an important lightweight clash goes down. Fresh off a 3-0 run in 2024 and main event triumph over Benoît Saint Denis in Paris, Renato Moicano gets the chance to further climb the 155-pound ladder against veteran contender Beneil Dariush, who hasn't competed since a knockout to Tsarukyan in December 2023.
And opening the UFC 311 main card will be promotional newcomer Reinier de Ridder. The former two-division ONE championship titleholder debuted this past November in a grueling clash with Gerald Meerschaert at the Apex. If he's to move to 2-0 in the Octagon, the Dutchman must add to the woes of Kevin Holland, who most recently fell to an injury TKO loss opposite Roman Dolidze.
Those pairings have currently gotten the nod to feature on the main card over ranked light heavyweights Johnny Walker and Bogdan Guskov, as well as a top 10 heavyweight bout between Jailton Almeida and Serghei Spivac.
See below for the full UFC 311 card, as it stands.
Main Card:
- Islam Makhachev (C) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (lightweight championship)
- Merab Dvalishvili (C) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (bantamweight championship)
- Jiří Procházka vs. Jamahal Hill (light heavyweight)
- Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano (lightweight)
- Reinier de Ridder vs. Kevin Holland (middleweight)
Preliminary Card:
- Johnny Walker vs. Bogdan Guskov (light heavyweight)
- Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos (bantamweight)
- Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac (heavyweight)
- Zachary Reese vs. Sedriques Dumas (middleweight)
Early Preliminary Card:
- Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira (lightweight)
- Karol Rosa vs. Ailín Pérez (women’s bantamweight)
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafarov (bantamweight)
- Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopaj (bantamweight)
- Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clay Carpenter (flyweight)
