5 Sleeper Fights To Watch At UFC 311
The Best Of The Rest At UFC 311
The first UFC pay-per-view event of 2025 goes down this weekend at the brand new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California and the promotion have stacked the deck with two amazing title fights at the top end of the card.
Pound-for-pound number one Islam Makhachev will put his lightweight strap on the line against Renato Moicano, after his original opponent Arman Tsarukyan picked up an injury at the eleventh hour, while Merab Dvalishvili will attempt to make the first defense of his bantamweight title when he takes on the unbeaten Umar Nurmagomedov.
Former light heavyweight champions Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill also clash on the main card, but outside of those top three high profile fights there are some fascinating matchups filling out the rest of the lineup.
Let’s take a look at some of the most intuiging ones.
Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
Nebraska’s Grant Dawson (22-2-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) looks to continue his exciting run in the UFC’s lightweight division when he takes on Brazilian veteran Diego Ferreira (19-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC).
Dawson possesses some of the best grappling in the 155 lb division while Ferreira is coming off one of the most violent performances in the Octagon in recent years when he beat Mateusz Rebecki in St. Louis, Missouri last May.
Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
With the heavyweight title situation between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall edging ever closer to it’s conclusion, now is the time for those behind the top dogs in the heavyweight division to begin stringing impressive results and performances together.
It’s likely “Bones” may walk away once the fight against Aspinall is in the history books (or possibly even without facing the Brit at all) and a huge opportunity lies in wait for whichever ranked heavyweight can shine the brightest early in 2025.
Brazil’s Jailton Almeida (21-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) certainly has the potential to leapfrog the rest of the chasing pack and position himself at the front of the line should he overcome Serghei Spivac (17-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) in Inglewood this weekend.
Image: Jailton Almeida IG
Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafarov
Unbeaten prodigy Rinya Nakamura (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) has looked sensational during his short UFC tenure to date. The former wrestling prodigy has dispatched of Toshiomi Kazama, Fernie Garcia and Carlos Vera with relative ease and will face former LFC bantamweight cahmpion Muin Gafarov (19-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC) on the preliminary card this Saturday night.
Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcellos
The brightest prospect in the UFC bantamweight division Payton Talbott (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) returns to action this weekend. The 26-year-old comes into UFC 311 as the biggest betting favorite on the card when he takes on Brazilian veteran Raoni Barcellos (18-5 MMA, 7-4 UFC).
Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
Opening up the main card is an interesting stylistic matchup between former ONE FC champion Reinier de Ridder (18-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Kevin Holland (26-12 MMA, 13-9 UFC).
“Trailblazer” has flitted between the welterweight and middleweight divisions over the past couple of years and may struggle should the fight hit the canvas against his Dutch opponent who, as well as being an exceptional grappler, is enormous for the 185 lb weight class.
Paul Browne is a professional mixed martial arts commentator, feature writer and podcaster based in Dublin, Ireland.
