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INGLEWOOD, Calif.— UFC will make its debut at the Intuit Dome this Saturday. The fantastic card is co-main evented by a rematch between defending lightweight champion Islam Makhachev versus Arman Tsarukyan, and first-time bantamweight defending champion Merab Dvalishvili against Umar Nurmagomedov.
Below is a list of the full card and a preview of each of the fights on the main card.
Main Card
Islam Makhachev (26-1-0) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (22-3-0)
Merab Dvalishvili (18-4-0) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0-0)
Jiří Procházka (30-5-1) vs. Jamahal Hill (12-2-0)
Beneil Dariush (22-6-1) vs. Renato Moicano (20-5-1)
Kevin Holland (26-12-0) vs. Reinier de Ridder (18-2-0)
Prelims
Payton Talbott (9-0-0) vs. Raoni Barcelos (18-5-0)
Jailton Almeida (21-3-0) vs. Serghei Spivac (17-4-0)
Bogdan Guskov (16-3-0) vs. Billy Elekana (7-1-0)
Grant Dawson (22-2-1) vs. Diego Ferreira (19-5-0)
Early Prelims
Zachary Reese (8-1-0) vs. Azamat Bekoev (18-3-0)
Karol Rosa (18-6-0) vs. Ailin Perez (11-2-0)
Rinya Nakamura (9-0-0) vs. Muin Gafurov (19-6-0)
Ricky Turcios (13-4-0) vs. Benardo Sopaj (11-3-0)
Tagir Ulanbekov (15-2-0) vs. Clayton Carpenter (8-0-0)
Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan 2
The rematch that everybody has been waiting for, Makhachev will defend his Lightweight Championship Belt for the fourth time against an evolved Tsarukyan. The two went the distance last time, with Makhachev winning by decision. But nearly six years after their original bout, Tsarukyan has become a well-rounded fighter with more experience compared to his first UFC fight against a then-undefeated Makhachev.
“Number one [thing] that he [improved is] experience,” Makhachev said at the press conference Friday night. “I have many hard [fights], that’s why I have more experience.”
“Of course, it’s the rematch and title [fight],” Tsarukyan said at the same conference. “[If] I beat him, I am going to be a champion, and I have [one] loss in UFC to Islam Makhachev. [Saturday] is going to be my night.”
Tsarukyan’s advantage will be early in the fight. The orthodox fighter has eight first-round finishes and has proved why he is the top contender in the division with wins against Charles Oliveira, Dariush and Joaquim Silva.
On the other side, Makhachev is the heavy favorite in the match. The No. 1 Men’s Pound-For-Pound fighter is likely one of the most well-rounded people that has ever entered the octagon. He can go strike for strike with Tsarukyan, but his advantage will be on the ground. Makhachev’s elite grappling skills will likely slow the fight down and, if the fight goes to a decision, make most of the judges table hedge his direction.
With Los Angeles having a large Armenian population, it was assumed that Tsarukyan would have the fan advantage, but Thursday’s press conference said otherwise. Although Tsarukyan did have a large fan base surrounding him, it seemed Makhachev got the majority of the cheers which he played into.
“I feel [like] I have more friends in the arena right now,” Makhachev said followed by a large cheer.
Whether he has fans on his side or not, Makhachev said that it really does not matter to him.
“[It is] you and your opponent, that’s it,” Makhachev said. “[When the] cages close, nobody can help you.”
Dvalishvili vs Nurmagomedov
The co-main event for the evening, Dvalishvili will defend his Bantamweight Title against an undefeated Nurmagomedov. Although Hall of Fame cousin Khabib Nurmagomedov might not be directly in the ring, Khabib has fallen into the role of a coach and will be standing in the corner for Nurmagomedov, Makhachev and Ulanbekov who is fighting in the early prelims.
After winning the title at UFC 306 against Sean “Sugar” O’Malley in the Sphere, Dvalishvili’s first title defense will be anything but easy. An undefeated Nurmagomedov has looked very strong, with seven knockout victories and four first-round finishes. It would be a huge night for Nurmagomedov’s team: the possibility of going undefeated at 311 and walking away with both the Bantamweight and Lightweight Titles.
Dvalishvili showed how great his grappling skills were with six takedowns against O’Malley, but Nurmagomedov is a completely different beast. Trained by his cousin who was known for his grappling skills, it will be very tough for Dvalishvili to shoot and earn a takedown. The Georgian-born champion is only five takedowns away from tying Georges St-Pierre’s record for most takedowns in UFC history at 90.
When asked about this, Dvalishvili seemed to play it off.
“That’s always good to break [the] record,” Dvalishvili said. “I’m here for [the] fight, I’m not looking for wrestling. If [the] record happens, [it] happens. If not, I want to punch Umar Nurmagomedov’s face.”
“He will break [St-Pierre’s] record in the next fight,” Nurmagomedov said. “Not in this fight.”
Procházka vs Hill
In a light heavyweight fight, the No. 2 contender in Procházka will go against the No. 3 contender in Hill. The press conference was anything but a warm welcome for Hill who received an onslaught of boos as he entered from stage left.
Coming off of two tears in his meniscus and a sprained ACL, Hill had to withdraw from the past two fights he had. He will return to the ring for the first time since he was famously knocked out against Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 300. On a similar note, Procházka is also coming off a loss to Pereira by knockout at UFC 303.
With numerous fans representing Procházka with a make-war braid in their hair, it was a shock to many when he took off his hood to show a buzzed head. He did it to show solidarity to a young woman battling cancer who lost her hair during chemotherapy. Procházka said he would be flying her out to the fight to watch and would also be donating money to cancer research.
“This hair is inspired by Ashley,” Procházka said. “This is my [way of] showing solidarity and sending the good energy. Yesterday I reached one million followers on Instagram… so I will give one million [Czech Koruna] (about 50,000 USD) to oncologist patients.”
Shortly after, Dana White said that he would match the same amount of money to give 100,000 dollars to the cancer patients.
The exciting fight between Procházka and Hill has drawn many eyes as one that has a solid chance of ending by knockout early in the fight. Procházka continuously talked about the importance of keeping his hands up knowing that Hill is a very strong striker
Dariush vs Moicano
A lightweight fight between the No. 9 contender Dariush and No. 10 contender Moicano is set and it should be a very even fight. Both size up very similar, with their reach extending to 72 inches and Moicano having an extra two inches in leg reach at 42.5 inches.
Moicano is a very legit wrestler, with 50% of his wins by submission. He takes down his opponents efficiently, however Dariush has great takedown defense sitting at an 80% success rate. Dariush talked about how Moicano is very good at strategizing against his opponent and described how he will have to be ready to adapt in the fight.
“When someone is good at strategizing, the best thing you can do is be well-rounded,” Dariush said. “That allows me to move from one game plan to another. I don’t have to have a super strict game plan on how I approach this.”
Despite only being 15 days younger than Dariush, Moicano had a much more simple message on how he was going to beat his opponent.
“I am going to beat the s*** out of the old man,” Moicano said.
Holland vs. de Ridder
To round out the main card will be Holland and de Ridder in a middleweight fight. The fight will no doubt be one that will showcase all styles of MMA, with Holland primarily bringing the striking and de Ridder bringing the grappling. Both sides, however, can play the other's game. De Ridder seems to be very precise with his strikes, nailing a significant strike 57% of the time and landing 3.24 per minute. With 12 submission victories, his strength obviously lies in his grappling abilities, but Holland did not seem too worried.
“[I] probably grappled less getting ready for [de Ridder],” Holland said. “If he subs me… that would be f****** crazy. I don’t think he does anything that great on the ground.”
“He is long, he is range-y,” de Ridder said. “His main thing is his right hand. He [has a] very strong, very precise right hand, and he has a lot of smoke around it… weird kicks, weird punches… but if he can crack you with that right hand straight down the pipe you are in trouble.”
De Ridder continued by saying he respects his grappling and takedown defense, but he would try and pressure Holland, take him down and choke him out.
Both fighters seemed very excited to be a part of the event at the brand new Intuit Dome, but Holland especially was excited to get going.
“The moment that octagon closes, everything is at peace, everything is happy, everything is beautiful,” Holland said. “Definitely happy to be back at home… check out the new stadium, and even more happy to be in the cage again.”