A key lightweight fight has been added to the already stacked UFC 311, the first Pay-Per-View event of 2025 for the promotion.
Beneil Dariush (22-6-1) will fight Renato Moicano (20-5-1) at the event on Januray 18, 2025, UFC officials announced on Thursday.
The card already features two title fights, with Islam Makhachev facing Arman Tsarukyan, and Merab Dvalishvili taking on Umar Nurmagomedov.
Dariush will be looking to bounce back from two consecutive losses in the match-up. At UFC 289 in 2023, he fell to Charles Oliveira; that December, he would go on to lose a fight against Arman Tsarukyan, who now rematches lightweight champ Makhachev for gold at UFC 311.
Brazil’s Renato Moicano, on the other hand, has been on a roll of late. He’s rattled off four straight wins over Brad Riddell, Drew Dober, Jalin Turner, and Benoit St-Denis. Three of those four wins ended inside the distance.
UFC 311 takes place at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, with the following match-ups reported for the card:
- Islam Makhachev (c) vs. Arman Tsarukyan – for the UFC lightweight championship
- Merab Dvalishvili (c) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov – for the UFC bantamweight championship
- Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano
- Jiří Procházka vs. Jamahal Hill
- Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
- Johnny Walker vs. Bogdan Guskov
- Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
- Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
- Zachary Reese vs. Sedriques Dumas
- Grant Dawson vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira
- Karol Rosa vs. Ailín Pérez
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
- Ricky Turcios vs. Bernardo Sopaj
- Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter
