The light-weight title might be on the road within the UFC 311 most important occasion on Jan. 18 in Inglewood, California. Champion Islam Makhachev (26-1) takes on second-ranked Arman Tsarukyan (22-3) in a rematch. The struggle promotion introduced the headlining matchup on Wednesday by way of social media.
First PPV of 2025 is a BANGER 🔥@MAKHACHEVMMA vs @ArmanUFC 2@MerabDvalishvil vs @UNmgdv #UFC311 on the @IntuitDome | 🎟️: https://t.co/dX45J0Cwpw pic.twitter.com/QE3Evz1uQr
— UFC (@ufc) December 5, 2024
The 2 first fought at UFC Battle Night time 149 in April 2019. Makhachev defeated Tsarukyan by way of unanimous choice and the bout earned ‘Battle of the Night time’ honors. It was Tsarukyan’s promotional debut.
The rematch might be Makhachev’s fourth title protection. He received the vacant championship at UFC 280 in October 2022 by submitting Charles Oliveira. He then defeated former feathwegiht champion Alexander Volkanovski in a pair of fights. In his final outing, Makhachev picked up a submission victory over Dustin Poirier.
Because the loss to Makhachev, Tsarukyan went on to win 9 of his subsequent ten fights. He’ll enter the title bout driving a four-fight successful streak together with knocking out Beneil Dariush in 64 seconds and defeating Oliveira to earn the UFC 311 title shot.
UFC 311 takes place on the newly opened 18,000 seat Intuit Dome. The sector opened on August 15 and can function the basketball venue within the 2028 Summer season Olympics. The occasion will mark the promotion’s third go to to Inglewood.