Dana White (Photo by Louis Grasse/PxImages/Icon Sportswire, Getty Images)
Icon Sports Wire (via Getty Images)
With each passing day, it seems like someone on the UFC 311 card is losing an opponent. On Saturday, Johnny Walker withdrew from his match against Bogdan Guskov.
On Monday, news broke that Cedriquez Dumas would be withdrawing from his middleweight bout against Zach Reese. To the UFC’s credit, they moved quickly on behalf of both fighters. UFC President Dana White said the event could be moved to Las Vegas if the California wildfires worsen in the area.
As things stand, Billy Elekana replaced Walker and became Guskov’s opponent. According to UFC.com, Azamat Bekoev will replace Dumas and will face Reese. This is the first time Dumas has had to withdraw from a fight in his two-year career in the UFC.
To be honest, Reese could have been given a tougher task. Dumas is long and athletic, but Bekoev is on a tear.
Like Elekana, 29-year-old Bekoev will also be making his UFC debut. Bekoev is from Russia and trains with American Top Team. He is also the current Legacy Fighting Alliance middleweight champion.
Bekoev has a professional record of 18 wins and 3 losses and comes into the fight with Reese on a six-fight winning streak. Bekoev’s last fight was a knockout of Chauncey Foxworth to retain the title.
Reese will try to maintain his record. He comes into this fight with two consecutive wins. He earned a contract with the UFC in August 2023 by defeating Eli Aronoff by first-round submission.
Reese missed out on his main roster debut in December 2023 when he was stopped by Cody Brundage with a heartbreaking slam KO.
But then Rees stopped Julian Marquez in just 20 seconds to get back on the winning track.
Reese then defeated Jose Medina by unanimous decision in August 2024. One or two more wins could put Reese in a position to challenge a ranked opponent in the UFC middleweight division.
Thankfully, the two title fights between Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan and Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov are still intact.
Here’s an updated look at the UFC 311 card after recent changes. It all ends on Saturday, January 18th.
UFC 311 Main Card (10 p.m. ET and ESPN+ pay-per-view)
Lightweight title match: Islam Makhachev (champion) vs. (1) Arman Tsarukyan Bantamweight title match: Merab Dvalishvili (champion) vs. (2) Umar Nurmagomedov Light heavyweight match: (9) Beneil Darish vs. (10) Renato Moicano Light Heavyweight Bouts: (2) Jiří Prochaska vs. (3) Jamahal Hill Middleweight bout: Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
UFC 311 Preliminary Card (8 p.m. ET on ESPNEWS and ESPN+)
Light Heavyweight Bouts: (13) Bogdan Guskov vs. Billy Elekana Bantamweight Bouts: Peyton Talbot vs. Raoni Barcelos Heavyweight Bouts: (6) Jailton Almeida vs. (7) Sergei Spivac Middleweight Bouts: Zack Reese vs. Azamat Bekoev
UFC 311 Early Preliminary Card (6pm ET on UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+)
Lightweight Bout: Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira Women’s Bantamweight Bout: Karol Rosa vs. Aylin Perez Bantamweight Bout: Tomoya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov Bantamweight Bout: Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopage Flyweight Match: (11) Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter
Stay tuned for more coverage from UFC 311 fight week. We’ll have a results article summarizing Intuit Dome’s bonus winners, top finishes, and performances.
