UFC CEO Dana White made a big announcement on Wednesday night, sharing that UFC 311 had secured a championship doubleheader a little over a month before the event, which will serve as the main event and co-main event. In the main event, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will defend his title against top contender Arman Tsarukyan, while Merab Dvalishvili will defend his bantamweight title against Umar Nurmagomedov in the co-main event.
Makhachev holds the top spot in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings. The fight with Tsarukyan marks the fourth defense of the title, which he won by submission of Charles Oliveira in October 2022. Following this victory, he picked up two consecutive victories over then featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, initially taking a close decision before scoring a violent first-round knockout in the rematch. In his last fight, Makhachev defeated Dustin Poirier in the fifth round of an entertaining fight. The Poirier fight was Makhachev's only trip to the Octagon in 2024.
Tsarukyan is heading into his first title shot on a four-fight winning streak. Since a decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot in June 2022, he took a decision over Damir Ismagulov, beat Joaquim Silva and Beneil Dariush and most recently prevailed with a split decision win over Oliveira in a title eliminator.
This fight will be a rematch of an April 2019 meeting, which Makhachev won by unanimous decision and won Fight of the Night.
Dvalishvili, meanwhile, won the bantamweight title in September, taking a lopsided decision over Sean O'Malley. The win extended Dvalishvili's win streak to 11, dating back to when he suffered back-to-back defeats in his first two UFC fights.
Nurmagomedov has been considered one of the best young fighters in the sport for years. With an 18-0 record, Nurmagomedov has won six fights in the UFC Octagon, most recently against Cory Sandhagen in August.
UFC 311 is scheduled to take place on January 18th at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
