6 Fights We Need to See After UFC 311

Saturday's UFC 311 card was one of the most stacked in recent memory, and it absolutely lived up to expectations. However, the results of the card leave several of the promotion's best divisions in less than ideal situations.

The event was headlined by a record-breaking fourth title defense from lightweight champ and pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev. The Russian had initially been set for a rematch with No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan, but shifted his focus to Renato Moicano when his original opponent was forced off the card just a day before the fight. Makhachev ultimately won the fight with ease, tapping his last-minute challenger with first-round D'arce choke. The win absolutely strengthened Makhachev's reputation as the best fighter in the world, but unfortunately, it's suddenly very unclear who he will fight next.

The same goes for bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili. Dvalishvili, who won the title with a decision win over Sean O'Malley last September, returned to action in the UFC 311 co-main event, defending his title for the first time against Makhachev's training partner Umar Nurmagomedov. The champ was surprisingly a big underdog in the matchup, but ultimately leaned on his unbelievable gas tank to exhaust and handily beat his highly-regarded opponent. The win cemented his place among the sport's pound-for-pound best, but he has already beaten so many of his division's top contenders that he too is now short on solid options—just like Makhachev.

Keep scrolling for the fights we'd like to see next for Makhachev and Dvalishvili, as well as how we'd like to see some other big UFC 311 winners matched up.

As we covered above, Islam Makhachev was originally set to rematch Arman Tsarukyan in the UFC 311 main event. It would have been the second time the pair met after Makhachev defeated Tsarukyan by decision in his promotional debut back in 2019, and several years later, it stood out as one of the most interesting matchups in MMA. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Tsarukyan suffered a last-minute back injury, and the opportunity that was supposed to be his went to Renato Moicano.

Now that Makhachev has beaten Moicano, it's time to re-book the rematch with Tsarukyan. UFC boss Dana White has claimed Tsarukyan will no longer be getting the next title shot, but unless he knows something damning that we don't, that doesn't make any sense. Tsarukyan, who is riding a close but impressive decision win over former champ Charles Oliveira, is still the division's No. 1 contender. He just got injured. These things happen. Maybe he has fallen out of the UFC's good graces, but he's still the best option available.

While Oliveira has since rebounded from his loss to Tsarukyan, he did so with a decision win over Michael Chandler, whose spot in the lightweight top-10 seems increasingly dubious. Mateusz Gamrot, meanwhile, was in position for a title shot, until he lost the opportunity to Dan Hooker in a big upset late last year. Tsarukyan is still the best choice for the lightweight champ's next fight. Book it next, and by the time it's over, there will hopefully be a clear No. 1 contender in waiting. If not, Makhachev can finally hike up to welterweight in search of a second belt.

Merab Dvalishvili's dizzying UFC 311 win over Umar Nurmagomedov marked his first defense of the bantamweight title. Ordinarily, a champion tends to have plenty of work to do after just one defense, but that's not the case for the tireless Georgian. In his last three fights, he has scored lopsided decision wins over the division's No. 1, 2, and 3 contenders in Sean O'Malley, Nurmagomedov, and Petr Yan. While it's possible any of those fighters could be granted a rematch with him, none of them have really earned it—certainly not like Dvalishvili earned his shot at the belt last year.

Instead of booking Dvalishvili for a rematch with O'Malley or Nurmagomedov, who are both riding losses to him, or Yan, who is 2-3 in his last five, we'd like to see the bantamweight champ defend his belt against flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja.

Pantoja, who is arguably even more underrated than Dvalishvili, finds himself in a similar position to the bantamweight champ. While he hasn't had his belt that long, he has already beaten most of the top contenders in his division. Some of them more than once.

He certainly deserves an opportunity to try to become a two-division champ, and neither he nor Dvalishvili has any better options right now. Book it for the International Fight Week co-main event.

Jiri Prochazka has proven himself as the second-best fighter in the light heavyweight division right now, and arguably one of the best fighters in the division's history.

A former champion, the Czech fan favorite is now 5-2 in the UFC, with both of his losses coming in exciting fights with reigning champ Alex Pereira. His latest win occurred on the UFC 311 main card when he flattened a fellow former champ in Jamahal Hill in the third round of a thrilling firefight. It was his 27th knockout and 30th finish in 31 professional wins. Think about that. This guy is inarguably one of the most prolific finishers in the history of MMA. He may be ranked one spot behind Magomed Ankalaev in the top 10, at No. 2, but he's got a way better resume than the Russian and consistently wins in exponentially more impressive fashion. He's No. 2 right now, no matter what the rankings say.

Regrettably, Prochazka is in a tough spot, as he's lost twice to the champ in the last year and a half. If Pereira wins his newly-announced title defense against Ankalaev, Prochazka will probably still need one more win to earn a third shot at the champ.

We suggest the UFC matchmakers pair him against the winner of a March 22 fight between Carlos Ulberg and Jan Blachowicz. The winner of that scrap will be in reach of a title shot, but like Prochazka, will probably need one more victory to lock up the opportunity.

Pit them against each other, and give the winner a shot at the Pereira vs. Ankalaev winner.

After Renato Moicano lost his short-notice title fight with Islam Makhachev, it's tempting to suggest the UFC reschedule him to fight Beneil Dariush, who he was originally set to meet on Saturday's card. However, that matchup aways seemed like a misstep from the promotion's matchmakers, because there was a way better choice available: a fight between Moicano and fellow fan favorite Paddy Pimblett.

Moicano has recently been a few spots ahead of England's Pimblett in the lightweight pecking order, which is perhaps why he was matched up with Dariush instead of the Brit, but after his loss to the champ, the distance between them as closed a bit. Now seems like a perfect time to match them up. Dariush, who has been contemplating retirement anyway, could then be matched up with somebody like Michael Chandler.

Jailton Almeida picked up yet another dominant win at UFC 311, smashing the always-dangerous Serghei Spivac to a first-round TKO win. It was his second win in a row after a tough loss to Curtis Blaydes, which may have cost him a title shot. The good news is that, after his recent success, he's probably only a win or two away from a long-awaited shot at gold—whether Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall holds the belt by that point.

We'd like to see the Brazilian grappling ace take another step in that direction opposite former interim champ Ciryl Gane.

Gane, a Muay Thai specialist, is riding a borderline criminal decision victory over Alexander Volkov, but remains the highest-ranked fighter in the division without a belt. He may not love the idea of a fight with Almeida—it's a nightmare matchup for him on paper—but he really has no other options, unless the UFC decides to book him for a third fight with Volkov, which seems unlikely.

Reinier de Ridder showed what he's all about at UFC 311. The former two-division ONE Championship titleholder had a bit of a bad rap after two stoppage losses to Anatoly Malykhin in ONE and a submission win over Gerald Meerschaert in his UFC debut, but he reaffirmed in his main card fight with Kevin Holland that he is, in fact, one of the best middleweights out there. "The Dutch Knight" absolutely mauled his American opponent and had him tapping to a rear-naked choke within four minutes.

After the fight, De Ridder called for a matchup with a top-five opponent. While he's arguably deserving of that opportunity on the basis of his achievements outside the Octagon, the UFC will probably bring him along a little slower than he hopes and match him up with someone in the back half of the rankings.

Our choice would be Paulo Costa.

Brazil's Costa, a former title challenger, is still ranked No. 11 at middleweight, despite being 1-4 in his last five fights, with his lone win coming against a shopworn Luke Rockhold. He's at a point where he needs to defend his spot in the rankings or get bounced from them altogether, and a fight with a rising contender like De Ridder seems like just the ticket.

It would be a great style clash between two hulking middleweights, and it would tell us a lot about where both guys belong in the division in 2025.