12/5/24: Lightweight, Bantamweight Title Clashes Added To UFC 311
Also: Bellator champs want out, first UFC main event of 2025 revealed, RIZIN announces two more NYE title bouts & more
Welcome to a Thursday edition of the Knockdown Daily! Today’s issue has a catchup of all the weekday news that has broken, including a few upcoming title fights and some drama in Bellator. Let’s get started.
Lightweight, Bantamweight Title Fights Confirmed For UFC 311
A pair of championship fights in some of UFC’s most competitive divisions will land on the same card early next year.
Title bouts at both lightweight and bantamweight have been confirmed for UFC 311, which is expected to go down on January 18th from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Lightweight Champ Makhachev Looks To Break Record Against Tsarukyan
In the headlining spot of the night, pound-for-pound top active fighter Islam Makhachev will aim to keep his extensive reign as lightweight champion alive when he meets Arman Tsarukyan.
Makhachev has been nothing short of dominant since grabbing the UFC Lightweight Championship in 2022 with a win over Charles Oliveira. He has since gotten past former 145-pound king Alexander Volkanovski on two different occasions, and most recently submitted Dustin Poirier in the fifth round of a title bout via D’arce Choke.
The upcoming booking gives Makhachev a chance to stand alone in lightweight UFC history. If successful, he will become the first-ever 155-pound division champ to defend their title four times. Currently, he is tied with a long list of greats who only made it as far as three fights before their reign came to a close, those fighters being Khabib Nurmagomedov, BJ Penn, Benson Henderson, and Frankie Edgar. Soon, however, Makhachev could be on a level of his own.
The upcoming fight sees a shift in the type of fights Makhachev has gotten since arriving to the title picture. While he has previously faced legacy names like Oliviera and Poirier, who have long been established at the highest level of MMA, this time he is the more experienced talent taking on a rising talent.
Tsarukyan will receive his first-ever UFC title shot when he faces Makhachev in January. Due to the highly competitive lightweight rankings, it took a run of nine wins through 10 appearances since 2019 to finally secure him a matchup with the belt on the line.
Performances over the past year have elevated Tsarukyan from just being one of the many contenders to the top candidate for a lightweight title fight. In late 2023 he put away respected contender Beneil Dariush just 64 seconds into a UFC main event, then came back this year for a split decision over the aforementioned ex-champ Oliveira.
Tsarukyan, the top-ranked lightweight on UFC’s official standings, will become the first Armenian champion in the promotion’s history if he can pull off a win at the Intuit Dome.
New Bantamweight King Dvalishvili Matched Against Nurmagomedov
Undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov will look to remain flawless and leave Los Angeles with the UFC Bantamweight Championship when he faces newly-crowned champ Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event.
Dvalishvili is getting the early 2025 assignment after becoming the latest bantamweight champ in September, taking down Sean O’Malley with an impressive five-round showing. His victory at UFC 306 was the culmination of an 11-fight winning streak in the division, getting past experienced talents like Petr Yan and Jose Aldo before receiving a crack at the belt.
Nurmagomedov was seen by many as the most qualified title contender following Dvalishvili’s title victory. He became one of the division’s biggest names after a five-round unanimous decision win against long-time contender Cory Sandhagen in August, marking his sixth UFC victory since debuting for the promotion in 2021.
Prior UFC appearances included a few stoppages, putting away Raoni Barcelos and Sergey Morozov in recent years.
The 28-year-old sits second in UFC’s bantamweight standings, placing him just one spot behind former champ O’Malley.
Here’s an updated look at UFC 311, which is just a little over a month away:
Bout 10: Islam Makhachev (26-1) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (22-3) (UFC Lightweight Championship)
Bout 9: Merab Dvalishvili (18-4) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0) (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 8: Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1) vs. Jamahal Hill (12-2) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 7: Jailton Almeida (21-3) vs. Serghei Spivac (17-4) (Heavyweight)
Bout 6: Johnny Walker (21-9) vs. Bogdan Guskov (16-3) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 5: Karol Rosa (18-6) vs. Ailin Perez (11-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 4: Payton Talbott (9-0) vs. Raoni Barcelos (18-5) (Bantamweight)
Bout 3: Ricky Turcios (12-4) vs. Bernardo Sopaj (11-3) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Grant Dawson (22-2-1) vs. Diego Ferreira (19-5) (Lightweight)
Bout 1: Kevin Holland (26-12) vs. Reinier de Ridder (18-2) (Middleweight)
Bellator Champions Patricio Pitbull, Patchy Mix Ask For Release
Some of Bellator’s best fighters are ready to walk from the brand.
Patricio Pitbull and Patchy Mix, champions in Bellator’s featherweight and bantamweight divisions respectively, have both made it clear that they hope to leave the MMA promotion.
The fighters have gone public with their intention to part ways with the brand, a request that has emerged out of their lack of activity since the promotion was purchased by the PFL a year back.
“We lost rhythm, we lost part of our careers waiting for something that never came,” Pitbull told MMA Fighting in a recent interview, speaking on the recent inactivity he has experienced. “It’s bad for me as a champion. I need to stay active. We know I’m not getting any younger, too. So I spoke with my managers and since my contract is not that long, it’s close to the end, we’ll ask to leave. I need to work.”
Pitbull fought just once this year, stopping Jeremy Kennedy in the third round of a March bout due to strikes. The Brazilian Bellator vet told MMA Fighting about how he was “left with only promises,” claiming that a once-discussed big New Year’s Eve fight has since fallen through, keeping him inactive until at least 2025.
Just hours after Pitbull mentioned his hopes to leave the promotion, Mix also chimed in.
“If you are not gonna have me fight then just please release me from [my] contract,” he said in a post on X. “This is not what I want but if I’m not important to the company being a multi-time champ. Then let me go respectfully.”
Mix similarly also fought just once in 2024, beating Magomed Magomedov in a split decision. 2024 marked just the second time in his professional career that he went a calendar year without competing more than once, with the prior instance being in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bellator hosted just five events in 2024, leaving little room for talents who didn’t join the 2024 PFL regular season to stay active. The promotion had previously planned three other shows in the year, although cards in Paris, Chicago, and Japan were all quietly cancelled in recent months.
Comments from Mix and Pitbull are just the latest in a growing list of gripes issued by fighters in recent months. Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Corey Anderson spoke about his absence from the cage last month, mentioning on social media that he was “Aging like warm cheese over here waiting for PFL to give me a call.”
In early 2024, former Bellator champ Gegard Mousasi claimed that PFL had cut off communications with him, making it unclear when he would be able to fight. After he went public with his story, it was announced in May that the brand had parted ways with Mousasi. The ex-UFC talent has since filed a lawsuit, claiming breach of contract.
Lightweight Title Clash, Kyoji Horiguchi Return Added To RIZIN New Year’s Eve Card
RIZIN has loaded up their classic New Year’s Eve card with another two title fights.
Joining an already-booked featherweight championship fight between Chihiro Suzuki and Kleber Koike, a pair of other title bouts have been added to the promotion’s December 31st card at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Long-Time Lightweight Champ Souza To Face Karamov
Former featherweight champ Vugar Karamov will move up one division in hopes of taking down RIZIN’s longest-standing champ.
Karamov has been booked to face RIZIN Lightweight Champion Roberto Satoshi Souza later this month, as announced at a press conference this week.
Karamov scored an incredibly quick win in his return to the cage just a few weeks back, stopping Kazumasa Majima in just 28 seconds. The fight was his first appearance since a brief run as featherweight champ came to an end last year due to a loss against incumbent titleholder Chihiro Suzuki.
Overall, Azerbaijan-based fighter Karamov has found success in RIZIN since joining the promotion in 2020. He previously put together a quick win against Mikuru Asakura to become a featherweight champ in 2023, a fight he was only given after getting past names like former UFC fighter Yoshinori Horie and regional champ Sora Yamamoto.
In the upcoming appearance, Karamov will fight above the featherweight limit for the first time since 2019. If successful, he will become just the second man in RIZIN history to capture a title in two separate divisions.
Souza’s multi-year run as lightweight champ has included three successful defences of his belt, more than any other champ in RIZIN history. His stellar grappling skills have been on display in past title fights, submitting Tofiq Musayev, Yusuke Yachi and Johnny Case in the past.
After going two-for-four in non-title fights from 2022 to 2024, Souza returned to his champion duties three months back with a rare showcase of his striking capabilities, stopping Brazilian finisher Luiz Gustavo in 21 seconds with strikes.
New Flyweight Champ Horiguchi To Meet Zulu
Kyoji Horiguchi, one of the biggest stars in RIZIN’s history, is set for his seventh New Year’s Eve appearance. Looking to defend the new RIZIN Flyweight Championship for the first time, he’ll take on South Africa’s Nkazimulo Zulu as part of the upcoming show.
Former bantamweight champ Horiguchi became the promotion’s first-ever flyweight titleholder on last year’s New Year’s Eve card, handing high-level contender Makoto Shinryu his second-ever pro loss with a second-round rear naked choke submission.
Horiguchi followed that title win up with a massive non-title performance in June, avenging his 2021 Bellator championship loss against Sergio Pettis with a three-round unanimous decision result.
The RIZIN vet now looks to take down Zulu, a regional champ who joined the promotion’s roster earlier this year.
After spending years as part of the title picture in South Africa’s EFC promotion, Zulu made the jump to RIZIN with a first-round stoppage against Jo Arai.
While Zulu has quite the background in MMA with more than a decade of pro fights to his name, the upcoming matchup will be his biggest assignment yet.
Here’s an updated look at RIZIN’s New Year’s Eve card, which is starting to look near completion:
Bout 16: Chihiro Suzuki (13-3) vs. Kleber Koike (33-7-1) (RIZIN Featherweight Championship)
Bout 15: Roberto Satoshi Souza (17-3) vs. Vugar Karamov (20-5) (RIZIN Lightweight Championship)
Bout 14: Kyoji Horiguchi (33-5) vs. Nkazimulo Zulu (16-6-1) (RIZIN Flyweight Championship)
Bout 13: Takakenshin (1-3) vs. Ed Polo King (0-0) (Heavyweight)
Bout 12: Yuta Kubo (5-1) vs. Razhabali Shaydullaev (11-0) (Featherweight)
Bout 11: Mikio Ueda (3-2) vs. Kim Tae-in (5-0) (Heavyweight)
Bout 10: YA-MAN vs. Karshyga Dautbek (16-3) (Featherweight)
Bout 9: Yusuke Yachi (27-14) vs. Taisei Sakuraba (0-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 8: Makoto Shinryu (18-3-1) vs. Jose Torres (12-3-1) (Catchweight 130 lbs)
Bout 7: Yuki Motoya (36-12) vs. Kyouma Akimoto (7-0) (Bantamweight)
Bout 6: Seika Izawa (14-0) vs. Lucia Apdelgarim (2-3) (Super Atomweight)
Bout 5: Koji Takeda (16-7) vs. Suguru Nii (19-12) (Featherweight)
Bout 4: Taiga (0-0) vs. Genji Umeno (0-0) (Bantamweight)
Bout 3: Rukiya Anpo vs. Ryan Garica (Exhibition Boxing)
Bout 2: Curmel Moton vs. Albert Pagara (Exhibition Boxing)
Bout 1: Amado Vargas vs. Sean Garcia (Exhibition Boxing)
Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Ribas 2 Moved To January 11th UFC Main Event
Ranked strawweights will kick off UFC’s 2025 schedule.
A rematch between Amanda Ribas and Mackenzie Dern, which was initially expected to go down at UFC’s December 14th show, has reportedly been booted ahead to the promotion’s January 11th card at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, as first reported by Alex Behunin of MMA Mania.
The delay, while sidelining the 115-pound fighters for a little under a month, has elevated them to a five-round main event, a bigger spotlight than what they were expected to receive as part of the show next week in Tampa, Florida.
The matchup gives both Brazilian vets a chance to rebuild themselves after pivotal losses.
Ribas suffered a five-round unanimous decision defeat up at flyweight against Rose Namajunas this year. The fight shut down her chances of putting together a two-fight winning streak for the first time since 2020, as she was riding the momentum of a flashy 2023 stoppage win against Luana Pinheiro.
The next booking is just the second strawweight appearance for Ribas since 2022, potentially indicating that she has decided to move back down to the 115-pound limit.
After getting stopped in late 2023 by former champ Jessica Andrade and then losing a fight to recent strawweight title challenger Amanda Lemos early this year, Dern has since been trying to regain momentum.
The 31-year-old started that process in August when she picked up a three-round decision victory against Loopy Godinez. In now what is expected to be her 15th UFC appearance – and fourth-ever main event booking – Dern can score another big win as part of her latest campaign in the division.
The upcoming fight is also a chance for Dern to avenge a loss she took to Ribas back in 2019, a result which ended her undefeated record as a pro.
Notes On: UFC, PFL Europe, RIZIN, Cage Warriors & More
UFC
Fresh off a successful UFC debut, former OKTAGON champ Felipe Lima (13-1) will face off against Miles Johns (15-2) at the promotion’s December 14th card. Lima won his first UFC appearance in June, submitting Muhammad Naimov with a rear naked choke. Johns is looking to end his year with a third consecutive win, coming off decision victories over Cody Gibson and Douglas Silva de Andrade in recent months.
Both aiming to bounce back from their first UFC loss, Billy Goff (9-3) and Nikolay Veretennikov (12-5) will face off at the promotion’s February 15th show, per Goff’s management team. While ex-CES champ Goff won his UFC debut in 2023, he’s now coming off a “Fight of the Night” loss against Trey Waters from May. Kazakhstan’s Veretennikov dropped his UFC debut in August, losing a split decision to Danny Barlow.
Two more fights have been added to UFC’s February 22nd card, which is rumored to go down in Seattle, Washington, USA:
“Dana White’s Contender Series” stand-out Islam Dulatov (11-1) will make his promotional debut against Adam Fugitt (10-4), per Fugitt’s management. Former OKTAGON talent Dulatov had a quick win in his “Contender Series” showing, putting away Vanilto Antunes in less than three minutes with strikes. Fugitt, a fighter who has flipped between wins and losses since joining the UFC roster in 2022, is returning after a split decision victory over Josh Quinlan.
Fighting Nerds gym member Jean Silva (14-2) will try to continue his impressive winning streak with a fight against Melsik Baghdasaryan (8-2), as first reported by AgFight. Silva has finished all three of his past UFC opponents, most recently getting past Drew Dober due to a doctor stoppage. Baghdasaryan has been out of the cage for more than a year, with a trio of cancelled bouts keeping him on the sidelines since his last fight. His most recent bout was a decision win in July 2023, beating Tucker Lutz.
PFL Europe
A change has been made to the PFL Europe finals, which is scheduled for next weekend in France. Undefeated flyweight Shanelle Dyer (6-0) has withdrawn from her grand final matchup against Paulina Wisniewska (4-0), per the promotion. Replacing her will be Valentina Scatizzi (3-3), who will be competing in the division’s championship bout for the second straight year.
RIZIN
A flurry of fights has been announced for RIZIN’s New Year’s Eve card, along with the title fights which have been written about here at Knockdown News:
A high-level clash between flyweight contenders has been booked: Former UFC talent and ex-Brave CF Champion Jose Torres (12-3-1) will make his promotional debut, facing former CFFC champ Makoto Shinryu (18-3-1). Torres will be searching for his first win in over a year, coming off a pair of title fight losses as part of his Brave CF trilogy rivalry against Nkosi Ndebele. Shinryu, who failed at last year’s New Year’s Eve card to capture the promotion’s inaugural flyweight title against Kyoji Horiguchi, will try to continue regaining momentum. While he beat low-level prospects Lee Jung-hyun and Kenta Hayashi in recent months, he also dropped a bout to vet Hiromasa Ougikubo in July.
18-year-old prospect Kyoumi Akimoto (7-0) will get the biggest matchup of his career when he appears against veteran Yuki Motoya (36-12). Akimoto has earned a pair of wins since debuting in RIZIN earlier this year, stopping vet Kintaro and recently beating kickboxer Hiroaki Suzuki. Motoya, who will be making his 20th RIZIN appearance, will be trying to end his year with a third consecutive win.
RIZIN Super Atomweight Champion Seika Izawa (14-0) will return in a mismatch non-title fight against Lucia Apdelgarin (2-3). Izawa’s last appearance was a decision win against the retiring Kanna Asakura back in September. Apdelgarin, a significantly less experienced fighter, is coming back to MMA after a two-fight kickboxing run in Japan recently.
The long-lasting wave of kickboxers turning to MMA in RIZIN will continue on New Year’s Eve, as both Taiga (0-0) and Genji Umeno (0-0) will debut in the sport against each other. Taiga is returning to RIZIN for the first time since 2022, coming back after putting together a multi-fight winning streak in kickboxing promotion Rise which has led him to a title win. Umeno appeared once on a RIZIN show earlier this year, beating Uoi Fullswing in a kickboxing bout.
Experienced talents Koji Takeda (16-7) and Suguru Nii (19-12) will aim to get back into the win column when they fight later this month. Nii had a five-fight winning streak, including a 2023 Pancrase title win, brought to an end in July with a submission defeat to Kazumasa Majima. Takeda has been unsuccessful as of late, as RIZIN has thrown him some of the toughest fights possible at featherweight. After defeats against names like Gadzhi Rabadanov and Tofiq Musayev, Takeda has lost four of his past five.
Cage Warriors
Cage Warriors has announced their first events for 2025:
The promotion’s 2025 schedule will kick off on March 8th with a trip to Rome, Italy.
The promotion is planning to host a doubleheader from March 14th to 15th. The first night will be part of the promotion’s invite-only “Unplugged” series, with the second being a normal show from the BEC Arena in Manchester, England.
A week later, Cage Warriors 186 will go down at The Indigo At The O2 in London, England on March 21st.
Then on April 26th, the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland will present Cage Warriors 187.
The RDS in Dublin, Ireland will play host to Cage Warriors 188 on April 26th.
Other
Alberta, the Canadian province where amateur MMA fighter Trokon Dousuah passed away last month following a three-round decision victory, has appointed a name to lead a new committee which will focus on improving combat sports safety. Victor Cui, a co-founder and current CEO of the promotion’s international wing, has been tapped for the role by Alberta’s Sports Minister Joseph Schow, per the Canadian Press. Cui notably resides in Edmonton, Alberta.