With each passing day, it seems someone on the UFC 311 card loses their opponent. On Saturday, Johnny Walker pulled out of his fight with Bogdan Guskov.
On Monday, news spread that Sedriques Dumas was out of his middleweight fight with Zach Reese. To the UFC’s credit, they have moved swiftly to replace both men. UFC President Dana White has said that the event could potentially move to Las Vegas if the California wildfires worsen in the area.
As it is, Billy Elekana stepped in for Walker and is now Guskov’s opponent. According to UFC.com, Azamat Bekoev is stepping in for Dumas and will face Reese. It’s the first time Dumas has had to pull out of a fight in his two-year career with the UFC.
Quite honestly, Reese might have gotten a tougher assignment. Dumas is long and athletic, but Bekoev is on a tear.
Like Elekana, the 29-year-old Bekoev is making his UFC debut. Bekoev is from Russia and trains at American Top Team. He is also the reigning Legacy Fighting Alliance middleweight champion.
Bekoev has a professional record of 18-3, and he comes into the fight with Reese on a six-fight win streak. In Bekoev’s last fight, he knocked out Chauncey Foxworth to retain his title.
Reese will be trying to keep his own streak intact. He comes into the fight having won two in a row. He earned a contract with the UFC in August 2023 when he defeated Eli Aronov via first-round submission.
Reese lost his main roster debut when he was stopped by Cody Brundage in December 2023 via a nasty slam KO.
However, since then, Reese has stopped Julian Marquez in just 20 seconds to get back on the winning track.
And Reese defeated Jose Medina by unanimous decision in August 2024. With one or two more wins, Reese might find himself in a position to challenge a ranked opponent in the UFC’s middleweight division.
Thankfully, the two title fights between Islam Makhachev-Arman Tsarukyan and Merab Dvalishvili-Umar Nurmagomedov are still intact.
Here is an updated look at the UFC 311 card after the recent changes. It all goes down on Saturday, January 18.
UFC 311 Main Card (10PM ET and ESPN+ Pay-Per-View)
- Lightweight Title Bout: Islam Makhachev (Champion) vs. (1) Arman Tsarukyan
- Bantamweight Title Bout: Merab Dvalishvili (Champion) vs. (2) Umar Nurmagomedov
- Lightweight Bout: (9) Beneil Dariush vs. (10) Renato Moicano
- Light Heavyweight Bout: (2) Jiří Procházka vs. (3) Jamahal Hill
- Middleweight Bout: Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
UFC 311 Preliminary Card (8PM ET on ESPNEWS & ESPN+)
- Light Heavyweight Bout: (13) Bogdan Guskov vs. Billy Elekana
- Bantamweight Bout: Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
- Heavyweight Bout: (6) Jailton Almeida vs. (7) Serghei Spivac
- Middleweight Bout: Zach 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. Ailín Pérez
- Bantamweight Bout: Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
- Bantamweight Bout: Ricky Turcios vs. Benardo Sopaj
- Flyweight Bout: (11) Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter
Stay tuned for more UFC 311 fight week coverage. I’ll have a results piece breaking down the bonus winners, top finishes and performances for the Intuit Dome.
