Champs make history as Makhachev cruises, ‘machine’ wins ‘insane’ war

Two champions have cemented their place among the greats with displays left that jaws on the floor across the entire UFC world.

Islam Makhachev’s reign as lightweight king will continue after the UFC’s pound-for-pound king successfully defended his throne in the promotion’s first pay-per-view card of 2025.

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While Makhachev was still expected to defeat the lightweight division’s top contender Arman Tsarukyan, the champion was — at least on paper — a much bigger favourite for his new fight against late replacement Renato Moicano.

Tsarukyan, who was on a 9-1 run since a unanimous decision loss to Makhachev in his UFC debut, withdrew after injuring his back earlier in the week, seeing Moicano step in at the last minute.

And as expected, Moicano was no match for Makhachev.

There was a brief moment early in round one where it looked like Moicano was potentially going to make things interesting as Makhachev went down, only for replays to show it was a slip.

It was only a minor mistake from the champion, who then quickly took Moicano down and secured the first-round submission with the D’Arce choke.

With the win, Makhachev moved to a 15-fight unbeaten streak — just one behind Anderson Silva and four fewer than heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

His five title fight wins, meanwhile, are now the most in the UFC lightweight history.

The champions made a statement.

MAIN CARD WRAP

Merab the machine wins ‘absolutely insane’ co-main event

Merab Dvalishvili said Umar Nurmagomedov didn’t deserve his title shot.

Well, the undefeated rising Russian phenom got it – and as a result, all the pressure was on Dvalishvili to back up his words and successfully defend his title for the first time in UFC 311’s co-main event.

Dvalishvili did just that, handing Nurmagomedov the first loss of his professional career to claim his 12th straight win and continue his rapid rise after initially starting his career with a 0-2 record.

That man is a machine. No doubt about it. #ufc311

— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) January 19, 2025

He didn’t have it easy though, with Nurmagomedov taking Dvalishvili to deep waters as the fight went the distance.

But the longer it went on the better Dvalishvili looked, even finding the time to showboat to the crowd as he passed the record for the most takedowns in UFC history previously held by Georges St Pierre (90).

“I haven’t seen anything like him,” Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said in commentary, while Joe Rogan described the pace of the fight as “absolutely insane”.

Nurmagomedov looked visibly exhausted as the fight dragged on and, to his credit, did well to fend off multiple takedown attempts from Dvalishvili.

But the champion’s class and superior conditioning shone through in the end.

Crazy fight could set up blockbuster trilogy as main card delivers highlights galore

Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill faced off in an incredible light heavyweight war, as two former champions battled to prove why they deserve a shot at champion Alex Pereira.

In the end, it was Prochazka who put himself in the frame for a third fight with Poatan after securing a third-round knockout win over Hill.

Prochazka dropped Hill with a brutal right hand which would have put the lights out on any other fighter.

Hill, however, was somehow able to scramble back to his feet before being sent crashing to the canvas again by another right hand as Prochazka left the referee with no choice after swarming with a series of shots to finish it off.

Earlier on the main card, Jailton Almeida made it eight wins by knockout in his career as he secured a TKO victory over Serghei Spivac in a clash of top heavyweight contenders.

Spivac took Almeida down with relative ease to open the fight, mixing in some brutal elbows to gain the upperhand early.

But it was all Almeida after he reversed position and got top control, later landing a huge combination when the fight returned to the feet before taking Spivac back down to the ground.

From there, Almeida did not let up as he unleashed a series of shots at Spivac, who offered nothing in return and gave the referee no choice but to step in.

Speaking after the fight, Almeida called out fellow top heavyweight contender Ciryl Gane, telling him to “stop running away”.

Reinier de Ridder laid out his plan for Kevin Holland at media day earlier in the week, telling reporters he would pressure the American early, take him down and then choke him out.

Well, that is exactly what happened as the 34-year-old, who submitted Gerald Meerschaert just a few months ago in his UFC debut, made Holland tap with a rear-naked choke.

Joe Rogan said it was as close to a “textbook” performance as you could get from de Ridder, who already boasted 12 submissions in his professional career before Sunday’s fight.

As for Holland, he has now lost four of his last five fights and is on a downward trajectory.

PRELIMINARY CARD WRAP

Contrasting finishes for debutants... and a hype train is taught a lesson

Billy Elekana and Azamat Bekoev were both making their debuts on Sunday and had very different endings to their first taste of UFC action inside the octagon.

Earlier on the preliminary card of the UFC’s first pay-per-view card in 2025, Bogdan Guskov overcame an early scare to cruise in the end to a submission victory over Elekana.

Elekana, who was stepping in for his first UFC fight as a last-minute replacement after Johnny Walker pulled out, looked every bit the part early in Sunday’s bout.

In a stunning early turn of events, Elekana immediately had Guskov under pressure after securing a quick takedown before getting the back and going for the choke.

“This would be a huge Cinderella story for Billy Elekana if he can pull this off,” Joe Rogan said in commentary.

Elekana was able to land some nice shots while in ground control, causing a cut on the bridge of Guskov’s nose.

Guskov never really looked to be in trouble though, even as Elekana recorded 10 significant ground strikes before his more highly-fancied opponent flipped the script late in the first round.

Gustov was able to get back control himself and mixed in some hard shots to the head before going for the choke late in the round and he got the tap, but it came just after the bell.

Somehow Elekana had made it to the second round, but it was short-lived for the debutant who was a sitting duck as Guskov walked him down and landed a series of brutal shots before claiming a submission victory via a guillotine choke.

Elekana barely threw anything in the second round, refusing to stand up and quickly tapping after the choke was initiated in a strange ending to a fight that started with so much promise.

It was a very different story in the next fight as Bekoev arrived in style to secure a first-round knockout victory over Zachary Reese.

Reese was the one who was normally inflicting all the damage early in fights, having recorded four first-minute finishes in nine pro fights, including a 20-second knockout of Julian Marquez in his first UFC win last year.

This time around there were genuine concerns for Reese, who took a while to get back up after being on the wrong end of a brutal ground-and-pound from Bekoev.

“That’s how you make a UFC debut,” Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said in commentary.

“It doesn’t get much better than that.”

Azamat Bekoev of Russia celebrates after knocking out Zachary Reese. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Elsewhere, in the final fight of the preliminary card, the hyped Payton Talbott was taught a lesson in a unanimous decision defeat to veteran Raoni Barcelos.

Talbott entered Sunday’s bout with plenty of confidence, boasting a 3-0 record in the UFC with his latest victory coming in just 19 seconds against Yanis Ghemmouri.

The American came up against a much stiffer challenge at UFC 311 though and was forced to fight for survival right until the bell as Barcelos unleashed a brutal ground-and-pound in the final stages of the third round.

All up though, it was a clinical performance from the veteran who dominated Talbott from start to finish.

The first fight of the prelims saw Grant Dawson outclass Diego Ferreira, taking control of the bout with his superior wrestling on the way to a unanimous decision victory.

FULL FIGHT CARD RESULTS

Main card

Islam Makhachev def. Renato Moicano via submission

Merab Dvalishvili def. Umar Nurmagomedov via UD

Jiri Prochazka def. Jamahal Hill via TKO

Jailton Almeida def. Serghei Spivac via TKO

Reinier de Ridder def. Kevin Holland via submission

Prelims

Raoni Barcelos def. Payton Talbott via UD

Azamat Bekoev def. Zachary Reese via TKO

Bogdan Guskov def. Billy Elekana via submission

Grant Dawson def. Diego Ferreira via UD

Early prelims

Ailin Perez def. Karol Rosa via UD

Muin Gafurov def. Rinya Nakamura via UD

Benardo Sopaj def. Ricky Turcios via UD

Tagir Ulanbekov def. Clayton Carpenter via UD

Originally published as Champs make history as Makhachev cruises, ‘machine’ wins ‘insane’ war