Belal Muhammad will try to end one of the longest active undefeated records on the UFC roster when he puts his welterweight title on the line for the first time later this year.
Muhammad will take on third-ranked 170-pound contender Shavkat Rakhmonov in the main event of UFC 310 on December 7th, as announced by the promotion on Saturday. The fight, which is expected to be the promotion’s final title bout in 2024, will go down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
The fight will be Muhammad’s first appearance since ending the title reign of Leon Edwards in July with a five-round unanimous decision victory. The performance was the culmination of a lengthy run up the welterweight rankings for Muhammad, piecing together nine consecutive wins before earning a title shot earlier this year. Before his title win, Muhammad got past notable title challengers like Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady.
Muhammad will try to carry on the welterweight division’s recent trend of champions who had lengthy title reigns. If he loses in December, Muhammad would be the first undisputed champ since Johny Hendricks in 2014 to lose his belt before successfully defending it once.
Kazakhstan’s Rakhmonov has put together an impressive streak of 18 wins since his 2014 pro debut, including six victories since entering the UFC roster in 2020. He has won all of his outings for the promotion via finish, beating veteran names like Stephen Thompson and Neil Magny on his way up the standings.
The upcoming booking will notably be Rakhmonov’s first UFC main event matchup. While he has never fought under a five-round ruleset in the promotion, he notably had a pair of championship bouts in M-1 shortly before signing with the UFC.
If successful in December, Rakhmonov will become the first fighter representing Kazakhstan to capture a UFC title.
Former RIZIN Champ Asakura To Face Pantoja
One of the most successful fighters from the Japanese market in recent years will get fast-tracked to a UFC title opportunity in December.
Kai Asakura will make his promotional debut in a high-level booking at UFC 310, challenging flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja in the co-main event spot of the night.
Asakura is coming over to America following a 16-fight run in RIZIN, attaining a pair of title reigns and being one of its most popular figures.
Asakura scored 13 victories in the promotion since debuting for them in 2017. He has won five of his last six appearances, including a late-2023 victory over former Bellator champ Juan Archuleta to capture RIZIN’s bantamweight title.
Asakura has found success in the RIZIN ring but also gained notoriety outside of his MMA appearances. He has become a famous social media influencer alongside his brother Mikuru Asakura, racking up more than a million Youtube subscribers and over 600 million combined views over the past few years. For reference, he has nearly double the amount of followers than current champ Pantoja on Instagram.
Asakura is undoubtedly stepping into the toughest test of his career. Moving down to the flyweight limit for the first time since 2017, he will face a champion who is coming off back-to-back impressive victories.
Pantoja has defended his title twice since overcoming Brandon Moreno via split decision in 2023. After having a one-sided performance against Brandon Royval to win on scorecards in late 2023, Pantoja returned in May of this year to defeat Australia’s Steve Erceg via decision.
At flyweight, a division where the title has bounced around frequently since the departure of Demetrious Johnson in 2018, a win in December would separate Pantoja from the title’s recent lineage. A successful performance in two months would make him the second-ever fighter in the division’s history to defend his title three times or more, although would of course still put him far behind the 11-fight title defense run of Johnson.
Now with two title fights attached to it, here’s an updated look at UFC 310:
Bout 8: Belal Muhammad (24-3) vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov (18-0) (UFC Welterweight Championship)
Bout 7: Alexandre Pantoja (28-5) vs. Kai Asakura (21-4) (UFC Flyweight Championship)
Bout 6: Anthony Smith (37-20) vs. Dominick Reyes (13-4) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 5: Tatiana Suarez (10-0) vs. Virna Jandiroba (21-3) (Strawweight)
Bout 4: Cyril Gane (12-2) vs. Alexander Volkov (38-10) (Heavyweight)
Bout 3: Movsar Evloev (18-0) vs. Aljamain Sterling (24-4) (Featherweight)
Bout 2: Clay Guida (38-24) vs. Chase Hooper (14-3-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Michael Chiesa (17-7) vs. Max Griffin (20-10) (Welterweight)
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