Recap Newsweek's UFC 311 fight night updates as reigning champions Islam Makhachev and Merab Dvalishvili retained their titles on a wild night at Intuit Dome.

Despite a tragic outbreak of wildfires across greater Los Angeles and a change to the main event just 24 hours before, UFC 311 proved to be an exciting kickoff to the 2025 pay-per-view schedule for the world's leading MMA promotion on Saturday.

Makhachev retained his title by submitting his late-notice challenger, after Dvalishvili kept his belt by handing Nurmagomedov his first loss

The reigning UFC bantamweight champion earned the first defense of his belt with a grueling decision over Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311.

The co-main event of UFC 311 was a bantamweight title fight between defending champions Merab Dvalishvili and undefeated challenger Umar Nurmagomedov.

For one fleeting moment in the first round of Saturday night's UFC 311 main event, it looked like we might witness one of the greatest upsets in MMA

Merab Dvalishvili recent reply to Umar Nurmagomedov after being questioned about his love for Georgia leaves the everyone baffled.

In an interesting twist, the famed middleweight mauler Chris Leben was one of the judges for this five-round showdown; his first title bout since making the switch from fighting in 2022. And he was put to work by the two grappling-heavy fighters who had a couple of close early rounds.

Merab Dvalishvili was the top guaranteed earner at UFC 311. Find out where the others ranked behind him in disclosed salaries.

For all of the chaos that Merab Dvalishvili typically brings to the Octagon in the form of his endless cardio, spamming wrestling attack and constant forward pressure, his critics are starting to wonder whether the Georgian star is causing too much of it for his own good outside of the cage,

UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili went back to work a little quicker than anybody anticipated, returning from a title win in September to a title defense against Umar Nurmagomedov this Saturday at UFC 311 - and Umar's cousin Khabib believes he knows why.