Merab Dvalishvili hands Umar Nurmagomedov first career defeat, defends title at UFC 311
Merab Dvalishvili successfully defends at UFC 311
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, January 18, 2025, for UFC 311, going down live from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
Headlining the event is a lightweight championship bout between Islam Makhachev (26-1) and no. 10 ranked Renato Moicano (20-5-1), 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.
Co-headlining the event was a bantamweight title bout between Merab Dvalishvili (18-4) and no. 2 ranked Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0).
Dvalishvili came into his first title defense tonight following victory over Sean O’Malley in September, extending his win streak to 11-straight. Nurmagomedov on the other hand defeated then no. 2 ranked Cory Sandhagen in his latest appearance back in August, making it to 6-0 inside the UFC’s octagon.
Continue reading to see how our UFC 311 bantamweight title fight went down:
Each man landed good punches onto the other through the opening five minutes, Nurmagomedov also adding kicks to his attack. Dvalishvili easily stuffed Nurmagomedov’s two takedown attempts in round one.
Nurmagomedov’s hands looked good in the second, landing solid combinations on a couple occasions. He also stuffed Dvalishvili’s lone takedown attempt before turning it into a brief takedown of his own.
Round three was Dvalishvili’s best of the night thus far as he turned up the pressure and secured his first and second takedowns of the fight. Nurmagomedov secured a momentary takedown as the round came to a close as well.
Dvalishvili really started to break Nurmagomedov under his pressure in the fourth, Nurmagomedov shooting and failing on a number of desperation shots and also getting taken down himself at the end of the round.
Dvalishvili did more of the same in round five, just wearing Nurmagomedov down and breaking him under his pressure. We’d never seen Nurmagomedov pushed like this, and he couldn’t last against the champion who has perhaps the best cardio in UFC history.
Official Result: Merab Dvalishvili def. Umar Nurmagomedov via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)
Merab Dvalishvili just surpassed Georges St-Pierre (90) for the most takedowns in UFC history at 92, securing seven in this fight.
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