Dana White announces two major title fights for UFC 311: Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan and Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov

UFC 311 will be getting two major title fights.

Dana White, UFC CEO, recently took to social media to drop some major news on his promotion’s first pay-per-view event of 2025. In the main event of UFC 311, Islam Makhachev will put his lightweight championship at stake against Arman Tsarukyan.

The co-main event will see Merab Dvalishvili defend his UFC Bantamweight Championship against Umar Nurmagomedov. White claimed that Dvalishvili was in the UFC office in Las Vegas demanding that he faces Umar next due to their war of words.

They will get to settle things on January 18th.

Makhachev vs Tsarukyan and Dvalishvili vs Nurmagomedov is LIVE January 18th from @intuitdome, California! #UFC311 pic.twitter.com/XZuAFUYAyC

— danawhite (@danawhite) December 5, 2024

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UFC 311 Title Fights: Résumés of Islam Makhachev, Arman Tsarukyan, Merab Dvalishvili, and Umar Nurmagomedov

Islam Makhachev will be looking to make his fourth successful UFC lightweight title defense. He actually fought Tsarukyan back in 2019 in a competitive bout that turned into a grappling chess match. In the end, Makhachev won the fight via unanimous decision. Makhachev will enter UFC 311 on a 14-fight winning streak.

Tsarukyan has gone 9-1 since the loss to Makhachev. Along the way, he’s beaten the likes of Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush. Tsarukyan is currently riding a four-fight winning streak.

As far as the bantamweight title fight is concerned, this will be Dvalishvili’s first attempt at a successful title defense. He captured the gold back in September when he defeated Sean O’Malley via unanimous decision. Dvalishvili has won his last 11 fights and hasn’t been defeated since 2018.

Nurmagomedov brings with him an undefeated 18-0 record. He was last seen in action back in August, defeating Cory Sandhagen. While Dvalishvili initially argued that Nurmagomedov’s resume isn’t up to snuff outside of the Sandhagen fight, it’s clear that the bad blood between the two has led to their title fight

UFC 311 will be held at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.