No contracts have been signed for the quickly approaching UFC 311 main card on December
2025 is right around the corner, and with it the UFC’s first pay-per-view of the year: UFC 311 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California on January 18th.
The original plan as per sources was to have Islam Makhachev defend his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan, but we’re now getting pretty close to the date and Team Makhachev still hasn’t signed a bout agreement for the fight.
“No. The contracts have not been signed,” Makhachev’s manager Rizvan Magomedov told Russian outlet Ushatayka. “We personally have not signed or received anything yet. But we are prepared for January 18th.”
“Back in September we were given this date. We accepted it, and there was no specific confirmation about the opponent yet. We assume that it will be Arman Tsarukyan.”
Islam Makhachev’s manager says that no contracts have been signed for his next fight, but they assume he will be fighting Arman Tsarukyan at #UFC311 on January 18th
He also confirms that Khabib will be in Islam’s corner for the fight
Ushataykapic.twitter.com/BBb40s2YAP
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) November 28, 2024
The UFC has been getting a bit slow at laying track ahead of them, especially with some of the injury issues they’ve faced. UFC 310 on December 7th only had its main event revealed on November 15th due a bone infection welterweight champ Belal Muhammad revealed to the public on October 31st.
There aren’t any health issues keeping a Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan bout from being announced, but you never know what visa issues could be going on behind the scenes with Russian and Georgian fighters involved. That’s a re-occurring situation that is expected to be resolved when Dana White’s buddy Donald Trump re-enters the White House near the end of January.
Arman Tsarukyan also has to get his license renewed after a little scuffle with fans on the way to the cage for his last fight in April.
For now we’re left wondering what’s keeping the UFC from making things official.