UFC 311 promised plenty and delivered!
The new stadium in Inglewood California opened its doors to the UFC for the first time and after some cracking preliminary fights, the main card saw some epic finishers before the big-ticket items entered the octagon.
Drama struck on Thursday with the main event undergoing a switch out, after Arman Tsarukyan was forced out with a back injury suffered during the weight cut.
Chokes of all kinds, strikes and unanimous decisions ultimately gave fight fans exactly what they paid for.
After collecting a victory just three months ago, Reiner de Ridder made light work of his opponent Kevin Holland, with a first-round submission ending their fight.
Serghei Spivac suffered a similar fate at the hands of Jailton Alemida, with that heavyweight bout ending in a first-round whooping.
Fans were then treated to a longer battle, between former light heavyweight champs Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, with three action packed rounds, before the dominant Prochazka put the American on the ground and ended things.
Umar Nurmagomedov entered the arena looking to keep his undefeated status intact, but Merab Dvalishivi had a bantamweight title to defend and his superior conditioning was the difference in the end, wearing Umar down to retain his title. This fight was declared the best of the night, with many in awe of Dvalishvili’s pace. Credit goes to Nurmagomedov’s persistence however, turning back 23 of 30 takedown attempts, but it was all in vain with Merab’s dominance on display for all to see.
Rounding out an epic night was the main event, with Islam Makhachev, who has the added motivation of Anderson’s Silva’s record of five consecutive victories in the UFC on his mind, taking on Renato Moicano who joined the ticket late.
That dream is still alive for Islam after his first-round submission win over the Brazilian, making it four successive title defenses with a D’Árce choke just after the clock turned four minutes. History now awaits the Russian.
