Despite the final PPV of the year being just three short weeks away, we still don’t know who will feature in the main event of UFC 310 out in Las Vegas on December 7.
The original main event was supposed to be welterweight champion Belal Muhammad taking on undefeated bogeyman Shavkat Rakhmonov; however, ‘Remember the Name’ was sadly forced to withdraw from that title bout with a bone infection in his foot.
Kamaru Usman on whether he’s fighting Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310
Following Muhammad’s withdrawal from UFC 310, a whole host of top contenders raised their hands as potential late-notice replacement opponents for the undefeated Kazakh ‘Nomad’.
Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley were amongst the first to throw their names into the hat, only for the promotion to book the two contenders against each other for UFC Tampa on December 14.
Then came former UFC welterweight champion and #2 ranked contender Kamaru Usman, who had only just told Buckley to “take a number and get in line” regarding his title callout.
However, just one week after claiming that he’d be ready to step in against Rakhmonov, the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ is now backtracking on his availability.
“You see where I’m at – I’m getting some work in, I’m getting ready if I get that call [from the UFC],” stated Usman on the latest episode of the Pound-4-pound podcast, before admitting that he likely won’t be ready to fight on December 7.
“But to be honest, it’s a fight that I’ve looked at and I know it’s definitely a very winnable fight. I know that I can, of all people, go out there and expose what hasn’t been exposed in a young, hot streaky guy in Shavkat Rakhmonov.
“He’s very talented, he’s very good but I do see the holes and I think that I can exploit that when that time is right… But December 7th might be a little too early for that time.”
Those comments haven’t gone down too well with UFC fans, especially since they come just one week after Usman previously claimed that he doesn’t “shy away from any of that.
“The UFC know who to call when that situation happens and if they do give me a call, I’m gonna answer the call… I don’t shy away from any of that. I’ve done it on six days’ notice. I’ve done it on eight days’ notice… Hey, it’s only a couple of weeks’ notice, but it is what it is.”
11 fights confirmed for UFC 310, including debutant fighting for flyweight gold
As pointed out by several fans on X, UFC 310 is at risk of turning into a ‘disaster’ should the promotion be unable to find a replacement for the now-canceled Muhammad vs Rakhmonov main event.
As of November 14, a total of 11 fights have been confirmed for the final PPV of the year, with former RIZIN bantamweight champion and promotional newcomer Kai Asakura set to face Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight title.
- Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura
- Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
- Vicente Luque vs. Nick Diaz
- Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Randy Brown vs. Bryan Battle
- Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
- Anthony Smith vs. Dominick Reyes
- Tallison Teixeira vs. Łukasz Brzeski
- Nate Landwehr vs. Dooho Choi
- Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van
- Clay Guida vs. Chase Hooper
Tapology also reports that Rizvan Kuniev vs Martin Buday has been added to the preliminary card, but that fight is yet to be officially confirmed by the UFC.
UFC 310 goes down live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, December 7.
- CHAOS: Colby Covington slams Rakhmonov in explicit social media rant after mocking recent fight callouts