UFC 311 promises to start the year off with a bang.
The UFC rolls into 2025 with its first pay-per-view headlined by Pound-for-Pound king Islam Makhachev (26-1) defending his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan (22-3), and Merab Dvalishvili (18-4) defending the bantamweight title against the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0).
There is plenty of bad blood in both matchups and you can get a taste of the rivalries in the newly released trailer below.
Makhachev defeated Tsarukyan in April 2019, when Tsarukyan was making his UFC debut on short notice. Since then, Makhachev has continued his dominant run, which includes three successful defenses of the lightweight title, while Tsarukyan has won nine of his past 10 fights to earn another crack at the champion.
Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov’s feud is fresher, but no less intense, with Dvalishvili publicly and repeatedly running down Nurmagomedov’s claim to a title shot. Those words didn’t deter the matchmakers, who deemed Nurmagomedov and his 6-0 UFC record worthy of No. 1 contender status.
See the UFC 311 lineup below.
Main Card
Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan
Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano
Jiri Prochazka vs. Jamahal Hill
Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
Preliminary Card
Johnny Walker vs. Bogdan Guskov
Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
Zachary Reese vs. Sedriques Dumas
Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
Ricky Turcios vs. Bernardo Sopai
Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter
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