Islam Makhachev crushes Renato Moicano at UFC 311 as Merab Dvalishvili upsets the odds
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Makhachev retained his title by submitting his late-notice challenger, after Dvalishvili kept his belt by handing Nurmagomedov his first loss. Islam Makhachev retained his lightweight title with a rapid submission of Renato Moicano at UFC 311, seeing off the late-notice challenger with a first-round D’Arce choke.
Makhachev was expecting to face Arman Tsarukyan, whom he outpointed six years ago, but the latter suffered a back injury the day before the fight. As a result, Moicano was pulled from his scheduled bout with Beneil Dariush and placed in the main event.
But the Brazilian, 35, was no match for Makhachev, 33, who took down Moicano and soon locked in a D’Arce. It was the same technique with which the Russian won his last fight, against Dustin Poirier in June. With Saturday’s win, Makhachev cemented his status as the UFC’s pound-for-pound No 1 fighter, as he secured a fourth successful title defence and 15th straight win.
In Makhachev’s corner was his coach and childhood friend Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was also in the corner of Umar Nurmagomedov in UFC 311’s co-main event. Umar, one of Khabib’s cousins, was challenging Merab Dvalishvili for his bantamweight title and came up short in a scintillating five-round fight.
Dvalishvili won a unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46), after using his famous pressure and cardio to overturn an apparent early lead. With that, the Georgian handed Nurmagomedov his first professional loss. Some within MMA felt that Dvalishvili was too big of an underdog, per the betting odds, and he proved them right with his impressive comeback.
