The final 2024 Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) pay-per-view (PPV) has changed.
UFC Flyweight Alexandre Pantoja will now headline UFC 310 on Sat., Dec. 7, 2024, against newcomer Kai Asakura, UFC CEO Dana White announced on social media tonight (Fri., Nov. 15, 2024). In the new five-round co-main event, undefeated Welterweight finisher Shavkat Rakhmonov will now take on Ireland’s Ian Garry, who was supposed to headline UFC Tampa a week later.
The original main event was supposed to be UFC Welterweight Belal Muhammad vs. Rakhmonov; however, a nasty toe injury scrapped the fight.
UFC 310, which will go down on Sat., Dec. 7, 2024, from inside the T-Mobile Arena, will be Pantoja’s third title defense. The 34-year-old Brazilian won the title in 2023 in a war against Brandon Moreno and is riding a six-fight win streak.
Asakura will make his UFC debut after a long career in the Japanese promotion RIZIN, where he captured the Bantamweight championship twice. He will also be dropping to Flyweight for the first time since 2017.
The new co-main sees two top UFC Welterweights clash in an official No. 1 contender fight. Rakhmonov has finished all 18 of his wins and has looked unstoppable since making his UFC debut on “Fight Island.” Garry, who is also undefeated, called for this specific fight after his lackluster win over Michael Page at UFC 303.
Here is the new official UFC 310 card.
125 lbs.: UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura
170 lbs.: Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Garry
265 lbs.: Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
145 lbs.: Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling
170 lbs.: Nick Diaz vs. Vicente Luque
UFC 310 Prelims Card on ESPN2/ESPN+:
205 lbs.: Anthony Smith vs. Dominick Reyes
155 lbs.: Chase Hooper vs. Clay Guida
170 lbs.: Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
125 lbs.: Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van
170 lbs.: Randy Brown vs. Bryan Battle
265 lbs.: Tallison Teixeira vs. ?ukasz Brzeski
265 lbs.: Rizvan Kuniev vs. Martin Buday
145 lbs.: Nate Landwehr vs. Doo Ho Choi