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Andreas Hale, ESPN
Islam Makhachev will look to defend his belt and teammate Umar Nurmagomedov will challenge for a world title in the first UFC pay-per-view card of 2025.
Makhachev, the UFC’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, will put his lightweight title on the line against the No. 1-ranked lightweight Arman Tsarukyan in the main event of UFC 311 on Jan. 18 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
Nurmagomedov will look to bring another world title to Eagles MMA when he faces bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event.
Tsarukyan gave Makhachev one of the toughest fights in his career when they met in 2019, with Makhachev winning by unanimous decision. Since that loss, which came in his UFC debut, Tsarukyan (22-3) has climbed the lightweight ladder by winning nine of his next 10 fights. A split decision win over former champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 in April set up the Armenian fighter for a second crack at Makhachev.
Makhachev (26-1) hasn’t lost a fight in nine years and has wins over Oliveira, former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and submitted Dustin Poirier in June. The pupil of Khabib Nurmagomedov, Makhachev will look to add to his UFC lightweight record 13 consecutive victories and become the all-time leader in lightweight title fight wins with five.
Dvalishvili (18-4) won the bantamweight title with a dominant decision win over Sean O’Malley at Noche UFC in September. Nicknamed “The Machine,” Dvalishvili is ranked by the UFC as the No. 7 pound-for-pound fighter and has won 10 straight fights, the longest winning streak in UFC bantamweight history. Dvalishvili has been dominant in his past four fights, with wins over former champions Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo and José Aldo before beating O’Malley for the title.
Nurmagomedov, the younger cousin of Khabib, is undefeated in 18 professional MMA fights. He is ranked No. 2 by the UFC in the 135-pound division and punched his ticket to a title opportunity when he defeated Cory Sandhagen by unanimous decision in August. He was originally scheduled to face Song Yadong on Dec. 14, but that fight was pulled when his opponent sustained an injury.
UFC 311 will also feature a light heavyweight bout between former champions Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka, and Kevin Holland will face former ONE Championship two-division titleholder Reinier de Ridder.