UFC 310’s main card is filling out. Welterweight champion Belal Muhammad makes his first title defense against Shavkat Rakhmonov. Alexandre Pantoja defends the flyweight crown against Kai Asakura, and Nick Diaz returns from a 39-month absence on Dec. 7 in Las Vegas.
UFC CEO Dana White announced four additional fights for UFC 307 through social media on Saturday: Muhammad vs. Rakmonov, Pantoja vs. Asakura, Vicente Luque vs. Nate Diaz and Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov.
Muhammad (24-3, 1 NC) makes his first welterweight title defense after upsetting former champion Leon Edwards in July. Rakhmonov (18-0) has been tabbed as a future champion for some time now, boasting a remarkable 100% finishing rate with eight knockouts and 10 submissions.
Pantoja (28-5) will defend the flyweight title for the third time following competitive bouts with Brandon Moreno, to win the title, Brandon Royval and Steve Erceg. Japan’s Asakura (21-4) joins an exclusive list of UFC debutants to fight for a title immediately. Asakura is considered one of the better bantamweights on the planet. Asakura is a two-time Rizin bantamweight champion with wins over UFC flyweight title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi, current UFC flyweight Manel Kape and former Bellator and Rizin bantamweight champ Juan Archuleta.
The promotion rebooked Luque vs. Diaz after getting pulled from the Aug. 3 Fight Night card. Diaz (26-10, 2 NC) is on a four-fight winless streak and hasn’t seen his hand raised since beating B.J. Penn in 2011. Longtime welterweight contender Luque is also in the worst slump of his career, going 1-3 in his last four fights.
Other notable fights at UFC 307 include Gane vs. Volkov, Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling and Anthony Smith vs. Dominick Reyes.
