UFC 311 Makhachev vs. Moicano PPV Pay Per View 1/18/25

Saturday’s UFC 311 fight card picked up a new main event during the official weigh-in process. UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will still put his title up for grabs in the main event. However, instead of facing Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch, Makhachev faces Renato Moicano in the headliner. We look at the betting odds for the updated UFC 311 fight card main event and offer our preview, picks, and predictions for the Makhachev vs. Moicano bout. UFC 311 live from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on January 18, 2025. Prelims start at 8pm ET/5pm PT, while the main card kicks off live on PPV at 10pm ET/7pm PT.

Ranked bantamweights Karol Rosa and Ailin Perez are set to stand opposite one another early in the evening on Saturday in Los Angeles.Rosa followed up her gutsy loss to Irene Aldana at the end of 2023 with a dominant effort against Pannie Kianzad in August, moving to 7-2 in the 135-pound weight class in the process. The polarizing Perez earned a pair of wins last year to push her winning streak to four, edging out Joselyne Edwards before submitting Darya Zheleznyakova in the opening round of a bout where she missed weight. Japanese prospect Rinya Namakura returns to action at UFC 311, facing off with Muin Gafurov of Tajikistan. After being the breakout star of the first season of Road to UFC and following up his tournament win with a victory over Fernie Garcia, the 29-year-old Nakamura made just a single appearance in 2024, besting short-notice opponent Carlos Vera on the scorecards. Sporting a 19-5 record, Gafurov is the most experienced foe Nakamura has faced to date, and heads into this weekend’s pairing having collected a unanimous decision win over Kyung Ho Kang last time out.

TUF winner Ricky Turcios and Benardo Sopaj meet in the first of five fights to be contested at 135 pounds over the course of the evening. Turcios has struggled to find consistency since winning the bantamweight competition on Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter, sandwiching a win over Kevin Natividad between losses to Aiemann Zahabi and Raul Rosas Jr. Sopaj’s short notice debut last March did not end well, but the Allstars Training Center representative aims to give a more complete and representative account of himself in his sophomore appearance on Saturday.

Action gets underway in the flyweight division, as ranked veteran Tagir Ulanbekov lines up opposite unbeaten DWCS grad Clayton Carpenter. Currently stationed at No. 11 in the divisional ranks, Ulanbekov is 15-2 overall and has earned finishes in each of his last two appearances, though he hasn’t fought since December 2023. A member of the DWCS Class of ’22, Carpenter picked up right where he left off in October, ending a 20-month hiatus by collecting a second straight rear-naked choke victory inside the Octagon.