UFC 311 Main Card Preview
A New Dawn, A New Day in UFC 311
The first UFC pay-per-view event of 2025 is almost upon us. UFC 311 goes down at the brand new Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California this Saturday night and the UFC matchmakers have stacked the card with reigning champions, former title holders and elite level prospects.
Let’s take a closer look at the five fights that will make up the main card at UFC 311.
UFC 311 Main Event: Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan – Lightweight Championship
Arman Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) finally gets the opportunity to rematch Islam Makhachev (26-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) almost six years after the pair first met inside the Octagon in Tsarukyan’s UFC debut.
Makhachev emerged victorious that night before embarking on a tremendous winning streak that resulted in him capturing the UFC lightweight title when he submitted Charles Oliveira at UFC 280.
Having also defended his belt against Alexander Volkanovski (twice) and Dustin Poirier, Makhachev has been openly flirting with the idea of testing the waters at 170 lbs, but he has a difficult test in front of him in this weekend’s main event to handle first.
Tsarukyan has gone 9-1 inside the Octagon since the pair first met and has proven in his last two outings that he has what it takes to mix with the best at 155 lbs.
The Armenian finished Beneil Dariush in just over a minute in December of 2023 before winning a split decision victory over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 back in April.
Makhachev represents another big step up in competition for Tsarukyan and having had his moments during that first meeting between the pair in 2019, the challenger will be eager to show the world just how much he has improved over the last five years.
UFC 311 Co-Main Event: Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov – Bantamweight Championship
Newly-crowned bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) will attempt to make the first defense of his title when he faces the unbeaten Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC).
“The Machine” is the proud owner of one of the most impressive winning streaks in the promotion over the past two-and-a-half years, picking up consecutive wins over former UFC champions Jose Aldo, Henry Cejudo and Petr Yan before beating Sean O’Malley in dominant fashion at UFC 306 to become champion at 135 lbs.
Nurmagomedov, who’s younger brother Usman will face Paul Hughes in the main event next week at the PFL’s Road to Dubai: Champions Series event, has enjoyed a perfect start to life inside the Octagon.
The 29-year-old leapfrogged the rest of the bantamweight top ten by defeating number two-ranked Cory Sandhagen in his last outing in August and now finds himself with a golden opportunity to follow in his cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov’s footsteps and become an unbeaten UFC champion.
UFC 311: Jiri Prochazka vs. Jamahal Hill – Light Heavyweight
Two former champions, both defeated Glover Teixeira to win the UFC light heavyweight championship. Both ended up vacating the belt due to suffering catastrophic injuries. And both were knocked out by current champion Alex Pereira in 2024.
With the UFC seemingly dragging their heels on whether or not to hand the division’s number-one ranked contender Magomed Ankalaev a title shot, there’s a chance that an impressive victory on Saturday night could earn Jamahal Hill (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) the rematch against “Poatan” that he has been crying out for.
The case for Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC to get another crack at the champion may be a harder sell, however, seeing as the 32-year-old Czech was KO’d twice by Pereira in the space of seven months.
UFC 311 will be the first time fans have seen Hill in action since his loss to the champion, while Prochazka hasn’t competed since that second round head kick knockout defeat to Pereira in June at UFC 303.
UFC 311: Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano – Lightweight
The late career surge of Renato Moicano (20-5-1 MMA, 12-5 UFC) continues at UFC 311 as the Brazilian, rising an impressive four-fight winning streak, faces perennial contender Beneil Dariush (22-6-1 MMA, 16-6-1 UFC).
“Money” Moicano has won the hearts of UFC fans the world over thanks in no small part to his enthusiastic post-fight interviews and his willingness to showcase his personality but at the base of everything lies an extremely dangerous fighter in the form of his competitive career.
His dominant victory over Benoit Saint-Denis last September served as a stark reminder that Moicano can be a handful for anyone on his day, and he may just be meeting Dariush at the perfect time.
Dariush enjoyed a fruitful period between 2018-2022, winning eight fights on the bounce and taking out elite names such as Tony Ferguson and Mateusz Gamrot along the way. The wheels came off in 2023 however as he was defeated in the first round by both Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan, and hasn’t fought since.
UFC 311: Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder – Middleweight
The main card opens with an intriguing bout between Kevin Holland (26-12 MMA, 13-9 UFC) and Reinier de Ridder (18-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC). This is somewhat of a quick turnaround for Holland who failed to answer the bell for round two in his last contest in October against Roman Dolidze due to a rib injury. With just three months separating the two fights, it will be interesting to see how “Trailblazer” handles the physicality and grappling acumen of “RDR”.
De Ridder, a former ONE FC champion, got his UFC career off to a winning start in November when he submitted Geral Meerschaert in the third round of their meeting at the UFC Apex.
UFC 311 takes place at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California this Saturday night.
