As the dust settles on a blockbuster weekend in New York which saw the provisional greatest of all time – Jon Jones – defend his heavyweight championship against Stipe Miocic, and Charles Oliveira be drawn once again into the lightweight title conversation with a win against Michael Chandler, let’s look at what the final UFC card of 2024 offers us: UFC 310.
Taking place on December 7th in Las Vegas, the T-Mobile Arena was meant to illuminate a welterweight title fight between the current holder Belal Muhammad and the unbeaten Shavkat Rakhmonov, but the former unfortunately sustained a toe injury in the build-up, meaning that the unbeaten Ian Garry has stepped in on short notice as a replacement.
An instance like this would usually culminate in the bout being for the interim title of the division, but this is not so for this fight, given the short-term nature of Muhammad’s injury and the increasing likelihood that he’ll be fighting in Q1 of 2025.
The fight will retain the 5-round length that typically appropriates title matches, but the victor will not have any belt wrapped around their waist, only a spoken guarantee that they will be next in line for the next proper title fight.
This matchup has caused a domino effect in the UFC schedule however, as Garry had previously signed to fight Joaquin Buckley in Tampa at a Fight Night event. So, stepping in for Garry is former interim champion Colby Covington, ensuring the main event goes ahead on December 14th in Florida.
Back in Vegas, the fight between Number 3 ranked Rakhmonov and Garry is now a co-main event, as there’s no title on the line.
The main event will now be a flyweight title matchup between current holder Alexandre Pantoja, and UFC debutant Kai Asakura.
Yep, you read that right. Japanese Mixed-Martial Artist, Kai Asakura is making his debut in the UFC, and he’s been thrown into the deep end; a shot against a champion who currently has the second-most title defences in the organisation.
That’s not to dismiss his current fight background, as Asakura will don the UFC gloves emerging from the Japan-based Rizin Fighting Federation.
Formed in 2015, Rizin was the spiritual coming together of the Pride FC and Dream organisations, continuing to develop some of the best Asian talent in the MMA world. Rizin fights take place in a roped ring (like boxing), and they conduct ‘Grand-Prix’ style elimination nights, where contenders will fight multiple opponents in the same night.
For those interested in where the name ‘Rizin’ came from, it’s a smart coming-together of the Japanese god of lightning – ‘Raijin’ – and the letter Z which, in Japanese, means ‘ultimate’.
Asakura trailblazed through Rizin, racking up 21 career wins, with 13 of those coming by knockout. When Asakura’s move to the UFC was announced, it’s understood that the promotion offered Asakura to other top flyweight contenders to fight in his debut, but they all declined – all except Alexandre Pantoja.
The current reigning champion of the flyweight division is one of the most talented to come of recent years. Alexandre ‘The Butcher’ Pantoja won the title in 2023, in a decision victory against fellow Mexican, Brandon Moreno. He’s defended it twice since – once against U.S. fighter Brandon Royval, and against Australia’s Steve Erceg.
Pantoja has 12 wins in the UFC, that’s the 2nd most wins in flyweight history – only Demetrious Johnson tops that record with a staggering 17 wins. Pantoja has also never been finished in the UFC octagon, something that Asakura will be looking change. If he wins, Asakura will become the first-ever fighter to win a belt on their UFC debut.
The main event: Alexandre Pantoja against Kai Asakura, and the co-main: Shavkat Rakhmonov against Ian Garry.
If you thought these two fights would rock Vegas, let’s look at the rest of the card.
Ciryl Gane will take on Alexander Volkov in the heavyweight division in what is sure to be a striking feud. Number two-ranked Gane is coming back after defeat against Jon Jones whereas Volkov is on a 4-fight win streak, his most impressive of those wins coming most recently against fellow Russian, Sergei Pavlovich.
In the featherweight division, the exciting Movsar Evloev will lock horns with the former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling following his impressive win over Calvin Kattar at UFC 300.
Evloev is unbeaten in the UFC and has curated an impressive resumé, with wins against Dan Ige, Diego Lopes and Arnold Allen. This was a must-make fight for the UFC stylistically as both Evloev and Sterling are wrestle-heavy. This one will surely dictate the path of the featherweight title.
Other notable bouts include Anthony Smith against Dominick Reyes in the light-heavyweight division and Nate Landwehr against Dooho Choi in the featherweight division.
2024 – The year that saw the UFC host the historic 300 card (and THAT Max Holloway moment), the ubiquitous Noche event at the Sphere, and the trailblaze of Alex Pereira – will close with one of the promotion’s strongest cards to date.
Set your alarms, you won’t want to miss UFC 310.
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