The final pay-per-view card of 2024 is upon us for the world’s premier MMA promotion as UFC 310 takes over Las Vegas Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
Although the card lost its original headliner due to an injury suffered by welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, the replacement main card remains creatively strong, as does the number of recognized names on the undercard.
The only scheduled title fight will take place in the main event as flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja seeks his third defense against UFC newcomer Kai Asakura.
Let’s take a closer look at this weekend’s biggest storylines.
1. Ian Machado Garry’s quest for greatness has become the main draw of the card
Initially, when top welterweight contender Shavkat Rakhmonov found himself in the main event against Muhammad, the intrigue involving his long-awaited march to the 170-pound title (and whether or not the new champ could put up enough resistance ) was the central storyline. But Mohammed’s withdrawal moved Rakhmonov to the co-main event in a non-title fight, opening the door for the 15-0 Garry to accept – without question – the toughest test of his career. Despite a solid trio of victories over the past 16 months against veterans Neil Magny, Geoff Neal and Michael “Venom” Page, the fight against Rahkmonov depicts Garry, 27, moving all his chips to the center of the table to find out. how big he can really get. In this case, the oft-maligned Garry deserves immense respect for his courage and opportunism. And while Garry is pretty much a 3-to-1 underdog against his undefeated opponent, the fight against Rakhmonov offers him a chance to gain overnight credibility and a legitimate star turn if he pulls out a victory against the undefeated champion. crowned of the division which completed its 18 matches. professional opponents. It’s one thing when a promotion or fan base anoints a fighter as a star before he deserves to be. But it’s another thing entirely to seek the same old-fashioned recognition by engaging in a fight as dangerous as that of the underdog and betting on yourself.
2. Shavkat Rakhmonov takes the kind of risk very few others would take
For an 18-0 fighter who had already earned a welterweight title shot from Muhammad, Rakhmonov’s decision to stay on the card and compete in a No. 1 contender’s match against Garry would be a crazy idea to most . But few fighters in UFC history can match the fearsome nature of what the Uzbekistan-born Kazakh fighter represents. Not only does he appreciate the delicacy of horse meat above all else (the animal also being his favorite), but Rakhmonov’s first regional fights saw him walking to the cage carrying the fur of the animals he hunted and executed himself. Rakhmonov is just as scientifically barbaric in the way he breaks and finishes off his opponents. So, given his total dominance over six trips to the Octagon, it’s perhaps no surprise that Rakhmonov believes he can beat any 170-pound fighter on the planet, which makes the replacing Muhammad with Garry not so difficult. But from a business perspective, how many other elite fighters would have jumped at the exact same opportunity? (For the record, the correct answer, in this case, is almost none.)
3. Alexandre Pantoja is quickly becoming one of the important champions in the UFC
Consider the sentence above as few people would have truly considered it in the past. But in a division so known for its parity and the idea that anyone can win the title on any given night, Pantoja has become nothing short of consistent. And as the UFC now prepares to close out its calendar year with another major event, Pantoja finds himself set to deliver his second PPV card in 2024 alone, while so many other big names, in the middle injuries and other concerns, failed to make a second appearance in the UFC. all this year. Pantoja also provided a rare level of stability at the top of the flyweight rankings after his close decision over fellow UFC newcomer Steve Erceg in May extended his current streak to six. Even more impressive, Pantoja also currently has a 9-0 record against fighters ranked in the top 10 in the 125-pound division. For a 34-year-old fighter who is a veteran of 33 professional fights and 15 walks to the Octagon, Pantoja was also able to shake off a large amount of accumulated damage – including his brutal title victory over Brandon Moreno in July 2023 – and continue to find new ways to win in close quarters combat.
4. Kai Asakura was lucky enough to get the red carpet treatment for his UFC debut
As a two-time former RIZIN bantamweight champion and one of the world’s top fighters yet to set foot in the Octagon, there would already be a decent amount of buzz for Asakura, 31, to make his UFC debut. That buzz, however, would likely have been limited to the more diehard circles of the UFC fanbase. But when you combine the injury to original UFC 310 headliner Muhammad and the fact that Pantoja has quickly cleaned out the top of the division (which would require finding him some fresh meat to defend his title), Asakura’s debut received priority clearance. Add to that the fact that the UFC has struggled lately to fill main and co-main events on PPV cards with enough star power to justify increasingly exorbitant ticket prices and you have the recipe perfect for Asakura to get the red carpet treatment. his first walk in the UFC, in the main event of the final PPV card of 2024 in Las Vegas. Luckily for fans, Asakura has an exciting style and should end up in a shootout with Pantoja. Regardless, Asakura had the best possible opportunity to get his name out there quickly as he looks to become the rare modern fighter to debut in a UFC title fight.
5. Aljamain Sterling fighting on a preliminary card makes no sense
Imagine being a former champion of the sport’s deepest division who, over the past two years, has defended the bantamweight title against Petr Yan, TJ Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo. Then imagine, after losing your title to Sean O’Malley and rebounding with a big win in your featherweight debut against veteran Calvin Kattar, that your next fight would be seven fights removed from the main event and buried on the preliminary map. That’s the reality for Sterling, a 35-year-old who remains among the top 15 to 20 pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, but who somehow lost a spot on the PPV card to of the mercurial Kron Gracie (who hasn’t won since). 2019) and Doo-hoo Choi (who has only one victory since 2016). Yes, Sterling isn’t always the most exciting fighter. But this 18-0 matchup against Movsar Evloev is easily the third most important fight on the UFC 310 card from the standpoint of what a win could do for either fighter within their respective division . Evloev is coming off a trio of huge wins over Dan Ige, Diego Lopes and Arnold Allen heading into this meeting of top 10 fighters at 145 pounds. And Sterling, given his history and name value, could very well find himself as a dark horse title contender if he adds Evloev’s name to Kattar on his growing featherweight resume. It’s a big fight with huge stakes and yet almost no one is talking about it. Sterling deserves better.
