A pair of championship fights in some of UFC’s most competitive divisions will land on the same card next year.
Title bouts at both lightweight and bantamweight have been confirmed for UFC 311, which is expected to go down on January 18th from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Lightweight Champ Makhachev Looks To Break Record Against Tsarukyan
In the headlining spot of the night, pound-for-pound top active fighter Islam Makhachev will aim to keep his extensive reign as lightweight champion alive when he meets Arman Tsarukyan.
Makhachev has been nothing short of dominant since grabbing the UFC Lightweight Championship in 2022 with a win over Charles Oliveira. He has since gotten past former 145-pound king Alexander Volkanovski on two different occasions, and most recently submitted Dustin Poirier in the fifth round of a title bout via D’arce Choke.
The upcoming booking gives Makhachev a chance to stand alone in lightweight UFC history. If successful, he will become the first-ever 155-pound division champ to defend their title four times. Currently, he is tied with a long list of greats who only made it as far as three fights before their reign came to a close, those fighters being Khabib Nurmagomedov, BJ Penn, Benson Henderson, and Frankie Edgar. Soon, however, Makhachev could be on a level of his own.
The upcoming fight sees a shift in the type of fights Makhachev has gotten since arriving to the title picture. While he has previously faced legacy names like Oliviera and Poirier, who have long been established at the highest level of MMA, this time he is the more experienced talent taking on a rising talent.
Tsarukyan will receive his first-ever UFC title shot when he faces Makhachev in January. Due to the highly competitive lightweight rankings, it took a run of nine wins through 10 appearances since 2019 to finally secure him a matchup with the belt on the line.
Performances over the past year have elevated Tsarukyan from just being one of the many contenders to the top candidate for a lightweight title fight. Late last year he put away respected contender Beneil Dariush just 64 seconds into a UFC main event, then came back this year for a split decision over the aforementioned ex-champ Oliveira.
Tsarukyan, the top-ranked lightweight on UFC’s official standings, will become the first Armenian champion in the promotion’s history if he can pull off a win at the Intuit Dome.
New Bantamweight King Dvalishvili Matched Against Nurmagomedov
Undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov will look to remain flawless and leave Los Angeles with the UFC Bantamweight Championship when he faces newly-crowned champ Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event.
Dvalishvili is getting the early 2025 assignment after becoming the latest bantamweight champ in September, taking down Sean O’Malley with an impressive five-round showing. His victory at UFC 306 was the culmination of an 11-fight winning streak in the division, getting past experienced talents like Petr Yan and Jose Aldo before receiving a crack at the belt.
Nurmagomedov was seen by many as the most qualified title contender following Dvalishvili’s title victory. He became one of the division’s biggest names after a five-round unanimous decision win against long-time contender Cory Sandhagen in August, marking his sixth UFC victory since debuting for the promotion in 2021.
Prior UFC appearances included a few stoppages, putting away Raoni Barcelos and Sergey Morozov in recent years.
The 28-year-old sits second in UFC’s bantamweight standings, placing him just one spot behind former champ O’Malley.
Here’s an updated look at UFC 311, which is just a little over a month away:
Bout 10: Islam Makhachev (26-1) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (22-3) (UFC Lightweight Championship)
Bout 9: Merab Dvalishvili (18-4) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0) (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 8: Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1) vs. Jamahal Hill (12-2) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 7: Jailton Almeida (21-3) vs. Serghei Spivac (17-4) (Heavyweight)
Bout 6: Johnny Walker (21-9) vs. Bogdan Guskov (16-3) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 5: Karol Rosa (18-6) vs. Ailin Perez (11-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 4: Payton Talbott (9-0) vs. Raoni Barcelos (18-5) (Bantamweight)
Bout 3: Ricky Turcios (12-4) vs. Bernardo Sopaj (11-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Grant Dawson (22-2-1) vs. Diego Ferreira (19-5) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Kevin Holland (26-12) vs. Reinier de Ridder (18-2) (Middleweight)
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