Islam Makhachev submits Renato Moicano early, defends title in UFC 311 main event
Islam Makhachev retains
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us tonight, January 18, 2025, for UFC 311, going down live from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
Headlining the event was a lightweight championship bout between Islam Makhachev (27-1) and no. 10 ranked Renato Moicano (20-6-1), a last-minute replacement for the champion as no. 1 ranked Arman Tsarukyan (22-3) suffered an injury just yesterday, forcing him from the highly anticipated rematch.
Makhachev came into the bout on a staggering 14-fight win streak, the longest in UFC lightweight history, this being his fifth straight title fight since winning the belt back in 2022 against Charles Oliveira (arm-triangle choke); he’s since defended it against the likes of then UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski twice (UD, KO) and Dustin Poirier (D’Arce choke).
Moicano on the other hand had really been coming into his own as of late, going 7-1 since moving up to 155 lbs including a four-fight win streak coming into this one with victories over the likes of Brad Riddell (rear naked choke), Drew Dober (UD), Jalin Turner (TKO), and Benoit Saint-Denis (TKO).
Continue reading to see how our UFC 311 lightweight championship main event went down:
Moicano’s striking looked good early on, going to the inside leg kick on a number of occasions and throwing his hands with a lot of intent. Makhachev took him down midway through the opening round, holding his position before passing over and locking in the D’Arce choke, immediately getting the tap and making the fourth defense of his title.
Official Result: Islam Makhachev def. Renato Moicano via submission (D’Arce choke) at 4:05 of round one
Islam Makhachev just submitted his second straight BJJ black belt opponent, stopping both with D’Arce chokes. He’s also submitted Kajan Johnson (armbar), Thiago Moises (rear naked choke), and Charles Oliveira (arm-triangle choke); that’s a total of five BJJ black belts Makhachev has submitted in the UFC.
What a special fighter we’re witnessing. Makhachev has now won 15-straight, and needs just one more win to tie Anderson Silva’s all-time consecutive wins record.
If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to share it on social media!
