UFC 311 simply landed two title fights with Islam Makhachev defending his light-weight belt towards Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch in the principle occasion whereas Merab Dvalishvili places his bantamweight strap up for grabs towards Umar Nurmagomedov within the co-main occasion on Jan. 18 on the new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
UFC CEO Dana White introduced the fights on Wednesday.
Whereas Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan has lengthy been anticipated for the January pay-per-view, the bantamweight title combat apparently got here collectively on the final minute.
Dvalishvili initially acknowledged that he wished to return in March however that timeline didn’t work for Nurmagomedov with Ramadan beginning the identical month. That led to quite a lot of ugly exchanges between them with Dvalisvhili finally turning his consideration to a possible rematch towards Petr Yan whereas Nurmagomedov stated he was able to combat anyone the UFC would throw at him.
That every one modified this week with White revealing particulars about how the combat got here collectively.
“Merab got here into the workplace late final night time, advised us he’s uninterested in listening to Umar disrespect him, and wished to make this combat occur as quickly as attainable,” White stated. “We referred to as Umar, he was sleeping in Dagestan and he stated ‘hell sure, wherever, anytime.”
Dvalishvili enters the combat off 11 consecutive wins together with his victory to dethrone Sean O’Malley and turn out to be bantamweight champion. In the meantime, Nurmagomedov sports activities an ideal 18-0 recording together with six wins within the UFC.
As for the principle occasion, Makhachev runs it again with Tsarukyan after they first met in a Combat of the Evening again in 2019. Whereas Makhachev received the preliminary assembly, Tsarukyan gave him a troublesome time, particularly contemplating he accepted the matchup on brief discover.
Now practically six years later they’ll meet once more with Makhachev searching for his fourth straight title protection after a pair of wins over Alexander Volkanovski and his most up-to-date victory towards Dustin Poirier. Tsarukyan has now received 4 in a row with a 9-1 resume since falling to Makhachev in his octagon debut.
Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan 2 and Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov headline UFC 311 with extra fights anticipated to be introduced within the coming weeks.