Islam Makhachev Makes EASY WORK Of Renato Moicano At UFC 311 (And Both Champions Retain Their Titles)

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Islam Makhachev is exactly who we thought he was. Just a killer through and through who barely broke a sweat submitting Renato Moicano in the first round of their UFC 311 main event tonight. And I'm not gonna lie - it's difficult to think of what else there is to include in a blog about a -1200 favorite making easy work of an opponent who stepped in on one day notice. He did what was expected of him. Makhachev now holds the record for lightweight championship defenses and is one win away from reaching Anderson Silva's famous win streak, and he feels as unbeatable as anyone in the UFC. He's a beast.

Arman Tsarukyan felt like he was gonna put up the best fight against Islam's reign we've seen yet (due to how close their first fight was), but hell - he pulled out the night before weigh-ins with a lingering back injury. Who knows what kinda shape he's in. In a perfect world he heals up ASAP and we get that next. If Tsarukyan isn't next for Makhachev, though, maybe it'll be a rematch with Charles Oliveira....or maybe he makes his long-teased move to welterweight. Maybe Ilia Topuria moves up and he welcomes another featherweight to his division. It's hard to say right now, but we'll just have to wait and see if Dana/Islam drop any clues about the future during their pressers tonight.

In the co-main event, Merab Dvalishvili/Umar Nurmagomedov put on - dare I say - an instant classic bantamweight championship fight. It was the best matchup you could imagine between two grapplers with their styles - I mean these guys made takedowns exciting! Merab was taunting Umar left and right, they were both fighting at a crazy pace, it was super back and forth, and it was awesome. Joe Rogan called it one of the best fights he's ever seen....and while that may have been recency bias/hyperbole on his part, it just speaks to how great it felt live. People in the crowd were going NUTS. 

Oh, and Merab shut up the haters who had the champ listed at +245....

Big hit for JackMac.

Overall, I think UFC 311 was a pretty damn good card and I'm excited to talk about it with Big Ev and JackMac on the Spinnin Backfist MMA Show. We're going live NOW….