Islam Makhachev defeats Renato Moicano by first-round submission at UFC 311

UFC 311 was a blockbuster success for the mixed-martial arts company, with the sold-out crowd of 18,370 at the Intuit Dome yielding a gate return of $10.2 million to make it the highest-grossing MMA event in California history.

“It will be a while before the record is broken,” White said in an interview immediately after the event. “The budget [for UFC 311] was $7.5 million. We were at $9.5 million [in ticket sales] when the fight fell out. It’s incredible.”

The strong showing from Southern California fight fans comes after the UFC lost its original main event Friday morning during the weigh-ins as Arman Tsarukyan, the No. 1 challenger to Islam Makhachev’s lightweight title, was forced to pull out of the fight because of a back injury.

Renato Moicano stepped in as a late replacement opponent but suffered a first-round submission loss against Makhachev.

Tsarukyan, an Armenian, was a key conduit in the ticket sales, as a massive Armenian contingency from Southern California was expected show up to support their fighter against Makhachev, a native of Dagestan in Russia.

White said an immediate rematch is not in store for Tsarukyan, as the division’s deck now reshuffles with No. 2 challenger Charles Oliveira waiting in the wings for a rematch of his own against Makhachev.

“There’s going to be a lot of changes going on [in the division],” White said. “You have to take these opportunities when you have them. He didn’t. We’ll see how this plays out over the next year ... [Tsarukyan will] take another fight [other than an immediate title shot versus Makhachev].”

A tit-for-tat technical tilt featuring high-level wrestling was the expected outcome in the co-main event between bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov.

But the bout ended up delivering an entertaining slugfest filled with plenty of flying hands and some of the grappling it promised, and it was the heavy underdog Dvalishvili who outlasted the fast-ascending Nurmagomedov via unanimous decision.

Dvalishvili (19-4), making the first defense of his 135-pound title since beating Sean O’Malley in September, was awarded scores of 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 as he dominated the latter half of the fight against a gassed Nurmagomedov (18-1).

Dvalishvili landed 142 strikes, and Nurmagomedov connected with 113 of his own. Dvalishvili’s takedown rate was seven of 30, while Nurmagomedov mustered just two of 15.

The southpaw Nurmagomedov started the contest by showing off his blazing fast hands and cut Dvalishvili near the right eye in the second. Nurmagomedov finally got the back of Merab two minutes into the second by scoring the fight’s first takedown and held the position for a minute before getting back up.

Bloodied but not beaten, Dvalishvili rallied and rocked Nurmagomedov in the third with a takedown of his own. As Nurmagomedov got back up to his feet, Dvalishvili still had control and started nodding to the fans as momentum mounted. Seconds later as the round came to a close, Dvalishvili started waving his finger, signaling that it wasn’t going to be the demoralized-looking Nurmagomedov’s night.

Nurmagomedov, trained by his cousin and UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov, and a stablemate of headliner and UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, could not find a second gear in the fight.

Dvalishvili dominated the fourth round as Nurmagomedov looked fatigued and searched for answers.

And Dvalishvili did more than enough to edge a close fifth round, which ended with Nurmagomedov getting rag-dolled across the canvas.

A fight between former light heavyweight titleholders Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill resulted in Prochazka setting himself up for a trilogy fight against current champion Alex Pereira.

Prochazka and Hill engaged in a seesaw battle that saw both fighters dominate a round — Prochazka the first, Hill the second — but it was Prochazka (31-5-1) who unleashed the equalizer in the third with a pair of knockdowns that resulted in a TKO win.

Referee Mike Beltran waved off the action at the 3:01 mark as a defenseless Hill (12-3 1NC) absorbed a heavy amount of unanswered shots.

Prochazka looked slow and sluggish in the opening two minutes, getting caught with big right hands that bruised his left eye. But he soon got his timing down and clocked Hill with a left hand that knocked him down.

Prochazka, frequently switching from southpaw to orthodox, went on to dominate the rest of the round, landing a total of 30 shots, compared to 17 from Hill.

Hill rallied and started the second round strong with a leg kick to the head. But 75 seconds into the frame, the action was halted when Prochazka poked Hill in the eye. After a brief break, the fight continued and Hill immediately clocked Prochazka with a right uppercut.

Seconds later, it was Hill this time who accidentally poked Prochazka in the eye. Physicians entered the cage to inspect the health of the wincing Prochazka, who clapped his hands to indicate he was ready to resume battle. Beltran warned both fighters to keep the action clean.

As the round continued, both fighters unleashed calculated shots, one punch at a time, and it was Hill who got the better of the action by the end of the round. Hill outlanded Prochazka 30 to 21 in the second.

One minute into the third, however, Prochazka blasted Hill on the chin. Moments later, he knocked him down, and then once more again, and then pounced to deliver a series of unanswered shots to the head of the bloodied and battered Hill to end the encounter.

Prochazka said after the fight that he must improve his defense and then called out Pereira, who was sitting in the first row.

Pereira knocked out Prochazka in two rounds to take the title from him in 2023 and then defended it in June via a second-round KO.

Heavyweights Jailton Almeida and Serghei Spivac wasted little time getting acquainted, and after several wild exchanges and take downs from each side, it was the Brazilian brawler Almeida who blasted his Moldovan rival, scoring a first-round TKO win.

The fight was waved off by referee Jason Herzog with six seconds to go as a defenseless Spivac was flat on his stomach and absorbing heavy shots to the side of his head.

Spivac (17-5), ranked No. 7, had several solid moments in the fight, including two minutes, eight seconds of ground control and 15 significant strikes landed — 34 in total.

But it was all Almeida (22-3) on top as the fight came to a close, who ended up landing 20 head shots and 36 total strikes.

The No. 6-ranked Almeida’s only hiccup was thanking the “Las Vegas crowd” before quickly correcting himself and thanking the Los Angeles fans at the Intuit Dome.

Reinier de Ridder sacked Kevin Holland in the opening seconds of their middleweight fight with a take down and went to work, eventually submitting the Southern California native with a rear naked choke at the 3:31 mark of the first round.

The Dutchman de Ridder (19-2) improved to 2-0 in his UFC career by notching the 13th submission win of his 12-year career.

Holland (26-13) has now lost four out of his last five fights.

UFC 311 will be co-headlined by bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili’s first title defense against Umar Nurmagomedov, a stablemate of Islam Makhachev, who is trained by his cousin, UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Dvalishvili won the 135-belt by beating Sean O’Malley in September at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Despite the dominant win, Dvalishvili (18-4) is a +245 underdog against the No. 2-ranked challenger Nurmagomedov (18-0), a -305 favorite. Nurmagomedov is coming off of a five-round unanimous decision win against Cory Sandhagen in August.

Bad blood between Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov has been the dominant story line ahead of the fight, and the pair will finally settle their issues in the cage.

I caught up with both of the fighters during fight week for an interview.

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Islam Makhachev

Nickname: None

Age: 33 (Oct. 27, 1991)

Record: 26-1 (5 KOs; 12 submissions)

Country: Republic of Dagestan

Team: Eagles MMA

Height: 5 feet 10 inches

Weight: 154.5 pounds

Stance: Southpaw

Reach: 70.5 inches

Significant wins: Dustin Poirier, Alexander Volkanovski (twice), Charles Oliveira, Dan Hooker, Arman Tsarukyan

Average fight time: 10:34

Strikes landed per minute: 2.65

Strikes absorbed per minute: 1.54

Takedown average per 15 minutes: 3.19

Takedown accuracy: 53.7%

Takedown defense accuracy: 90.9%

Submission average per 15 minutes: 1.06%

Renato Moicano

Renato Moicano celebrates after a lightweight bout against Brad Riddell at UFC 281 in 2022.

(Frank Franklin II / Associated Press)

Nickname: “Money Moicano”

Age: 35 (May 21, 1989)

Record: 20-5-1 (2 KOs; 10 submissions)

Country: Brazil

Team: American Top Team

Height: 5 feet 11 inches

Weight: 155 pounds

Stance: Orthodox

Reach: 72 inches

Significant wins: Benoît Saint Denis, Jalin Turner, Drew Dober

Average fight time: 9:27

Strikes landed per minute: 4.42

Strikes absorbed per minute: 3.60

Takedown average per 15 minutes: 1.87

Takedown accuracy: 44.4%

Takedown defense accuracy: 72.7%

Submission average per 15 minutes: 0.56

DraftKings has Islam Makhachev listed as a -800 betting favorite and Renato Moicano as a +550 betting underdog.

Makhachev’s original opponent, Arman Tsarukyan, who was forced out of the fight on Friday because of a back injury, was originally slated a +300 underdog.

These are the near-closing betting odds for Makhachev’s title run in 2022.

• Makhachev -400 betting favorite; Dustin Poirier +300
• Makhachev -260 betting favorite; Alexander Volkanovski +210 — second fight
• Makhachev -380 betting favorite; Alexander Volkanovski +310 — first fight
• Makhachev -195 betting favorite; Charles Oliveira +170

UFC 311 takes place at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Saturday night.

Early prelims begin at 3 p.m. on ESPN+, FX and UFC Fight Pass. At 5 p.m., the action switches over to ESPN+ and ESPNews for more preliminary bouts.

The pay-per-view event begins at 7 p.m., and the card is available exclusively through ESPN+ — a separate ESPN+ subscription is required in order to purchase the event. Rates vary depending on standalone purchase and package bundles.

If you’re in the Southern California area, tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.

The UFC website features a directory listing bars and restaurants nationwide that will be showing the event.