The Top 5 Winners From UFC 311

Published by Paul Browne on January 19, 2025

Who’s Stock Was Boosted At UFC 311?

The first UFC pay-per-view event of the year proved to be an excellent one with a spate of impressive finishes and plenty of drama throughout the evening.

Champions defended their belts, contenders strengthened their cases and prospects were “fraud checked” during an epic night of action at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

But which fighters came out of Saturday’s PPV carrying the most forward momentum? Let’s dive into it.

1) Merab Dvalishvili

Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili will surely have felt massively disrespected by the entire narrative surrounding his first title defense against Umar Nurmagomedov going into Saturday’s co-main event.

“The Machine” was a heavy underdog against his previously-unbeaten opponent and after initially stating that he had no interest in facing the Dagestani challenger, fans all over soical media were convinced Dvalishvili was somehow scared of facing Nurmagomedov.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and Dvalishvili proved that on Saturday night as he turned in a truly exceptional performance to end Nurmagomedov’s unbeaten streak and extend his own winning run to twelve.

The Georgian’s resume is beginning to look legendary. Alongside the win over Nurmagomedov, he has beaten a litany of former UFC champions such as Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley.

It’s time to put some respect on the name of Merab Dvalishvili.

2) Ilia Topuria

Friday’s massive bombshell that Arman Tsarukyan was out of his scheduled lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev ruined what could have been a senstaional main event.

Of all of the available challengers at the top end of the lightweight division, Tsarukyan stood out as the one who had the most potential to break Islam Makhachev’s generational winning run as champion and pound-for-pound number one.

Instead, he finds himself now on the outside of the title picture at 155 lbs looking in, after Dana White indicated that injury has cost him his chance at glory. “He’s not getting a title shot,” said the UFC president. “That means he’s going to have to fight his way back to the title.”

With the rest of the lightweight top ten being made up of opponents Makhachev has already beaten (Dustin Poirier, Charles Oliveira), fighters who are already booked (Dan Hooker, Justin Gaethje) and people who are coming off a loss (Max Holloway, Michael Chandler, Beneil Dariush), it would seem the pickings are slim when it comes to finding the reigning champion’s next opponent.

Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) recently stated his aim to move up and fight for Makhachev’s belt. Following the twists and turns of fight week at UFC 311, that dream may now be substantially closer to becoming a reality.

3) Ailín Pérez

Saturday’s unanimous decision victory over Karol Rosa was the fifth win on the bounce for Ailín Pérez (12-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) inside the women’s bantamweight division.

The 30-year-old Argentine has bounced back incredibly well since losing her promotional debut to Stephanie Egger back in 2022 and stands to make a significant leap forward in the division when the latest rankings are released during the week.

Pérez had been ranked four places below Rosa (who sat in ninth spot) prior to Saturday and with the release of Holly Holm (sitting one place above Rosa), Pérez should be a lot closer to the title discussion thatn she was before her latest fight took place.

4) Reinier de Ridder

Former ONE FC two-weight world champion Reinier de Ridder (19-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) steamrolled Kevin Holland inside the opening round of Saturday’s main card opener to move to 2-0 in his UFC career.

Kevin Holland had fallen out of the rankings as a consequence of bouncing between weight classes so there will be no automatic move into the top 15 for de Ridder following Saturday’s win.

However, after being matched with both Gerald Meerschaert and Holland so far, it’s clear the UFC are intent on putting “The Dutch Knight” into fun fights and there are plenty of those awaiting de Ridder going forward in the middleweight division.

5) Grant Dawson

Grant Dawson (23-2-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) picked up his third consecutive win (and his fourteenth in his last sixteen outings) by beating tough veteran Diego Ferreria on Saturday’s preliminary card.

Dawson is quickly becoming the lightweight division’s best-kept secret and following Saturday night’s performance, he may find himself knocking on the door of the rankings once again at 155 lbs.