UFC CEO Dana White took to social media tonight and announced the main event and co-main event of the promotion’s first PPV of 2025. In the co-main event, bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili (18-4) will look to defend his title for the first time as he takes on undefeated top contender Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0). UFC 311 goes down on January 18th from Los Angelas.
This is the fight that everyone wanted and it’s the fight that we are going to get. Let’s start with the challenger Umar Nurmagomedov. He made his octagon debut back in 2021 and ever since he made his debut, it’s been hard to get the man fights. Nobody wanted to fight him due to the dominant way he ran through all of his opponents.
After he fought Raoini Barcelos in January 2023, we didn’t see him again until March of this year. That said, he finally got his tough test back in August when he took on former interim title challenger Cory Sandhagen. Nurmagomedov passed the test with flying colors as he dominated Sandhagen to earn his UFC title shot.
UFC 311
Merab Dvalishvili was signed by the UFC back in 2017 and immediately lost his first two fights. However, after that second loss, he hasn’t tasted defeat since. Dvalishvili went on a dominant run that saw him defeat and dominate the likes of Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo.
All of those wins led him to the main event of Noche UFC where he took on promotional superstar “Suga” Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight title. Dvalishvili had a great game plan and won the fight by decision. Now, he’ll defend his title against his toughest challenger in the bantamweight division.