UFC 311 is still scheduled to take place on Saturday, January 18, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. The impact of the California wildfires has put the event in question.
However, the PR account for the venue confirmed the event is still on, but UFC President Dana White told influencer Adin Ross he would move the event to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas if the wildfires threaten the venue.
As far as the card is concerned, there has been a late change. Light heavyweight Johnny Walker is out of his fight with Bogdan Guskov. Walker took to social media on Saturday to announce he pulled out of the fight due to a “bad injury.”
The UFC moved quickly to replace Walker. Guskov will now be facing Billy Elekana in a fight that looks to be headed for the prelims. Elekana, a veteran of Legacy Fighting Alliance and the Professional Fighters League, will be making his UFC debut.
Some betting sites have already installed Elekana as a +250 underdog.
The rest of the UFC 311 card remains intact, including the two championship fights. Here is a look at the watch info and the full card for the first event of the year that has MMA fans buzzing.
UFC 311 Main Card (10:00 PM ET on ESPN+ Pay-Per-View)
- Lightweight Title Bout: Islam Makhachev (Champion) vs. (1) Arman Tsarukyan
- Bantamweight Title Bout: Merab Dvalishvili (Champion) vs. (2) Umar Nurmagomedov
- Lightweight Bout: (9) Beneil Dariush vs. (10) Renato Moicano
- Light Heavyweight Bout: (2) Jiří Procházka vs. (3) Jamahal Hill
- Middleweight Bout: Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
UFC 311 Preliminary Card (8:00 PM ET on ESPNEWS & ESPN+)
- Light Heavyweight Bout: (13) Bogdan Guskov vs. Billy Elekana
- Bantamweight Bout: Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
- Heavyweight Bout: (6) Jailton Almeida vs. (7) Serghei Spivac
- Middleweight Bout: Zach Reese vs. Sedriques Dumas
UFC 311 Early Preliminary Card (6:00 PM EST on UFC Fight Pass)
- Lightweight Bout: Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
- Women’s Bantamweight Bout: Karol Rosa vs. Ailín Pérez
- Bantamweight Bout: Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
- Bantamweight Bout: Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopaj
- Flyweight Bout: (11) Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter
There are 12 champions or ranked fighters on the card, with eight weight classes in action. In the co-main event, men’s bantamweight king Merab Dvalishvili will defend his title against Umar Nurmagomedov.
It will be Dvalishvili’s first title defense.
In the main event, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will defend his title in a rematch against No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan. Makhachev won the first meeting in a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors in April 2019.
A win for Makhachev would strengthen his case for being the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. It might also move him closer to what seems like an inevitable jump to welterweight.
Throughout the week, stay tuned for coverage of the first pay-per-view event of the year for the UFC. If there are any changes to the date, venue, or card, I’ll have the updates.
The fighters will meet the press on Thursday, weigh in on Friday, and the event is scheduled to happen on Saturday.
