INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 16: (LR) Opponents Islam Makhachev of Russia and Arman Tsarukyan of … (+)
The UFC’s first pay-per-view event of the year takes place on Saturday, January 18 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
UFC 311 will feature two championship fights. In the main event, UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will defend his title in a rematch against Arman Tsarukyan.
Makhachev won their first meeting by unanimous decision in a battle that won Fight of the Night bonuses in April 2019.
In the co-main event, UFC men’s bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili will defend his title against Umar Nurmagomedov.
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 16: (LR) Opponents Umar Nurmagomedov of Russia and Merab … (+)
Early preliminaries begin at 6 p.m. ET. Here’s a look at the full map, along with start times for all three sections of the event, along with viewing information.
UFC 311 main card (10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ Pay-Per-View)
- UFC Lightweight Title Fight: Islam Makhachev (Champion) vs. (1) Arman Tsarukyan
- UFC Bantamweight Title Fight: Merab Dvalishvili (Champion) vs. (2) Umar Nurmagomedov
- Lightweight Fight: (9) Beneil Dariush vs. (10) Renato Moicano
- Light heavyweight fight: (2) Jiří Procházka vs. (3) Jamahal Hill
- Middleweight Fight: Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
UFC 311 preliminary card (8 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS and ESPN+)
- Light heavyweight fight: (13) Bogdan Guskov vs. Billy Elekana
- Bantamweight bout: Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
- Heavyweight bout: (6) Jailton Almeida vs. (7) Serghei Spivac
- Middleweight Fight: Zach Reese vs. Azamat Bekoev
UFC 311 Early Preliminary Card (6 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+)
- Lightweight Fight: Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
- Women’s bantamweight bout: Karol Rosa vs. Ailín Pérez
- Bantamweight bout: Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
- Bantamweight bout: Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopaj
- Flyweight bout: (11) Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter
UFC 311 fights you’ll want to see
205 live
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 16: (LR) opponents Jiri Prochazka of the Czech Republic and Jamahal … (+)
Jiří Procházka and Jamahal Hill, two former UFC light heavyweight champions, will face off in an extremely important fight. The winner remains in the mix for another shot against Alex Pereira and the light heavyweight title.
Procházka has already lost twice to Pereira and Hill has felt Poatan’s wrath once. In any case, this one could become the Fight of the Night.
Reinier de Ridder’s second UFC fight
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 16: (LR) opponents Kevin Holland and Reinier de Ridder of the … (+)
Former two-division ONE Championship champion Reinier de Ridder makes his second walk into the Octagon against Kevin Holland. RDR has made no secret of its game plan for the Netherlands.
He plans to take Holland down and seeks to subdue him. Holland hits like a ton of bricks, but his takedown defense has been a bit flawed. A win for RDR could give him a middleweight ranking. A loss would seriously cripple his chances of reaching the UFC championship level.
The foreplay is very strong
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 15: Payton Talbott poses for a portrait during a UFC photoshoot … (+)
Jailton Almeida is a real threat at heavyweight. He will face Serghei Spivac. Many don’t like Almeida’s fighting style, but he arguably has the best Jiu-Jitsu of any heavyweight.
It will be interesting to see what he can do with Spivac. Additionally, rising prospect Payton Talbott will face his toughest test against Raoni Barcelos. Be on the lookout for post-event coverage Saturday night.
