Less than 24 hours before UFC 309 goes down from Madison Square Garden in New York, Dana White has now officially announced the new main and co-main events for the final PPV of the year; UFC 310 on December 7.
Not only do we have news on the two fights topping the UFC 310 bill, but also regarding the new main event of UFC Tampa on December 14 – here’s everything you need to know.
Dana White confirms new main event for UFC 310 on December 7
After welterweight champion Belal Muhammad was forced to withdraw from his UFC 310 title fight with injury, the promotion began desperately searching for a replacement opponent for Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Pantoja vs Asakura is LIVE December 7th on @ESPNPlus PPV! #UFC310 pic.twitter.com/9iTc9pVG9t
— danawhite (@danawhite) November 16, 2024
Thankfully, Dana White has just announced (coincidentally dropping during the final rounds of Jake Paul’s tedious boxing fight with Mike Tyson) what’s going on regarding the final PPV of the year… And it’s required some major chopping and changing to the upcoming UFC schedule.
“The welterweight title fight between Belal Muhammad and Shavkat Rakhmonov is off due to Belal having surgery; stepping up to the main event is flyweight champion Pantoja who will be facing the debuting Kai Asakura.
“Kai was the two-time 135lb champion for RIZIN, which is the leading Japanese MMA promotion… This guy is considered to be one of the hardest-hitting strikers at 135lbs and he’s coming to the UFC and moving down in weight.”
Pantoja vs Asakura has now been promoted from co-main to main event, but the good news is that Shavkat Rakhmonov will remain on the December 7 card – he’s now set to face Ian Machado Garry in a five-round number-one contender’s fight.
White confirmed that “The winner will fight Belal for the title early next year,” with Garry being forced to move from his original UFC Tampa main event booking against Joaquin Buckley to face the undefeated ‘Nomad’.
UFC Tampa goes down on December 14 and in Garry’s place, as appropriate as you can get for a Florida-based UFC card, in steps Chaos personified.
“The new main event for Tampa will now feature Colby Covington taking on Joaquin Buckley… Both guys love to talk, and I expect this to be a war.”
With the new changes, the full UFC 310 card is now taking its final shape.
- Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura
- Shavkat Rakhmonov vs Ian Machado Garry
- Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
- Vicente Luque vs. Nick Diaz
- Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Randy Brown vs. Bryan Battle
- Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
- Anthony Smith vs. Dominick Reyes
- Tallison Teixeira vs. Łukasz Brzeski
- Nate Landwehr vs. Dooho Choi
- Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van
- Clay Guida vs. Chase Hooper
White’s announcement came just a few seconds before the eighth and final round in the controversial boxing fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
