Islam Makhachev will look to make a fourth successful lightweight championship title defence when he faces old foe Arman Tsarukyan in the main event of UFC 311, set for the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, on the morning of Sunday 19 January 2025.
Islam Makhachev's 14-fight UFC win streak is third all-time behind Kamaru Usman (15) and Anderson Silva (16).
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) January 12, 2025
Will Makhachev continue his win streak at #UFC311? 👊 pic.twitter.com/Oe9Z2yFR4X
Makhachev (26-1) won the vacant title in October 2022 and has since defended the belt three times: twice against Alexander Volkanovski in 2023 and most recently against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in June of last year.
Tsarukyan (22-3) has earned a first shot at the title thanks to a four-fight win streak from December 2022 to April 2024 which has seen him overcome Damir Ismagulov, Joaquim Silva, Beneil Dariush and Charles Oliveira (the latter was a title fight eliminator which the Armenian won by split decision).
The pair have met before in the Octagon, with Makhachev defeating Tsarukyan (on the latter’s UFC debut) via unanimous decision in 2019, but the challenger believes things will be different this time around.
“I’ve got one trick prepared that I believe in. It will change the outcome of the fight,” the 28-year-old stated cryptically.
Who else can't wait for these title fights!? 🤩 pic.twitter.com/IQgTBMYTfp
— UFC (@ufc) January 13, 2025
The co-main event sees new bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili make his first title defence against Umar Nurmagomedov.
Dvalishvili (18-4) has put together an 11-fight win streak, and claimed the title in impressive fashion by completely outclassing Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 in September, while Nurmagomedov (18-0) is unbeaten in his professional career and defeated Cory Sandhagen by unanimous decision in a title eliminator in August.
Dvalishvili has taken issue with Nurmagomedov’s online jibes and says the fight is “personal”: “Every time I see him, I give him my respect, I shake his hand, I even tell him I was going to fight him one day,” Dvalishvili said. “And he started talking trash online, and real men don’t do this. So it’s personal for me.”
The Georgian added: “It’s going to be a tough fight. He’s a good fighter. But he didn’t earn it like everybody else. He didn’t go through [everybody]. You have to go through the best but he only fought no-wrestling [Cory] Sandhagen. Yeah, he’s a good fighter but you have to fight everybody to prove.”
The rest of the main card features a lightweight bout between Beneil Dariush and Renato Moicano; Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, two former light heavyweight champions, will go toe-to-toe; and the middleweight opener pits veteran Kevin Holland against former ONE Championship double title winner Reinier de Ridder.
UFC 311 – Main card
- Main event: Lightweight championship: Islam Makhachev v Arman Tsarukyan
- Co-main event: Bantamweight championship: Merab Dvalishvili v Umar Nurmagomedov
- Lightweight: Beneil Dariush v Renato Moicano
- Light heavyweight: Jiri Prochazka v Jamahal Hill
- Middleweight: Kevin Holland v Reinier de Ridder