UFC 311: 5 biggest takeaways from a wild start to 2025's PPV calendar

Even before the first punch was thrown, UFC 311 brought a certain chaotic brand of excitement. A main event shakeup the day before fight night will do that. But Saturday’s event gave us more surprises than just that one, with a lot to digest now that the blood on the canvas has dried in Inglewood, California.

Here are the top five takeaways from UFC 311.

1. We didn’t get to learn anything new about Islam Makhachev, but we did get a quick reminder.

This man is the lightweight champ for a reason. While we can all appreciate the Rocky Balboa-esque storyline of a dude like Renato Moicano getting this unexpected title shot after Arman Tsarukyan’s late withdrawal, in real life there are still levels to this game.

This was never going to be a very competitive fight. Moicano is a solid fighter who’s done a lot with what he has, but Makhachev is the best in the world. Whether he deserves to be thought of as one of the all-time lightweight greats is still unclear, and this switch denied him the chance to do much that would prove it. That’s not his fault. It’s just bad luck, really.

Adding to the legacy in a meaningful way will have to wait. Still, it goes down as a record-breaking title defense in the history books. Even if it did look like pretty easy work for the champion.

2. Serves them right for making Merab Dvalishvili an underdog.

The disrespect! He won the 135-pound title this past fall and then turned right around to defend it against a very tough challenger in Umar Nurmagomedov. But to make him such a sizable underdog against a mostly unproven talent? That was a miscalculation for sure.

Longtime coach Ray Longo put it best between rounds. Nurmagomedov didn’t like the (expletive) pace.

But other than Dvalishvili, who does?

The guy’s RPMs are off the charts, and somehow he also makes it look fun. Nurmagomedov might have been a threat early on, but Dvalishvili’s constant motor wore him down as much mentally as physically. If he can keep this up without running himself into the ground trying to give the UFC a steady diet of title defenses, it sure feels like that belt’s not going anywhere for a while.

3. Nobody believes the way Jiri Prochazka believes.

Don’t look now, but Prochazka might have added some defense to his game. It sure seemed to catch Jamahal Hill by surprise in their light heavyweight undercard bout. Hill hit a lot of air in this one and left himself exposed to some blistering counters in the process. He hung as tough as he could for as long as possible, but nobody can eat clean shots like those for long in this division.

That’s about as good all around as Prochazka has looked since coming to the UFC. It definitely has to be one of his best performances defensively. He’s always seemed so much more interested in hitting than he is in not getting hit, but here he managed to marry the two to great success.

Is it enough of an improvement to think a third fight with 205-pound champ Alex Pereira would go any differently than the first two? Well, maybe not yet.

But with another quality win in the coming months, who knows?

4. Reinier de Ridder’s second UFC outing was a lot more impressive than his first.

He wouldn’t be the first fighter to struggle with those Octagon jitters. But after pulling out a win in a sloppy performance against Gerald Meerschaert in November, de Ridder absolutely schooled Kevin Holland on Saturday night, thus reminding us what the UFC saw in him in the first place.

If that’s the start of “RDR” getting his feet under him in the UFC’s middleweight division, watch out. His style and his size could be a problem for lots of contenders in this weight class.

5. Payton Talbott ran into a reality check, but all is not yet lost.

Talbott was a massive 10-to-1 favorite over Raoni Barcelos, which in retrospect was a little ridiculous for a 26-year-old with nine pro fights. The quick takedown and early ground control exposed some holes in his game, but Talbott’s toughness and resolve were never in question, even in those moments when he seemed to be sucking air.

That’ll hit the brakes on the Talbott hype train, but it doesn’t necessarily derail it completely. At this stage in his development, it’s not the worst thing to be brought back down to Earth for a little while.