With UFC 311 just over a week away, UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria has been given the opportunity to attend.
On January 18, the UFC will host its first PPV event of 2025 with two huge title fights atop the blockbuster card.
In the co-main event, Merab Dvalishvili defends his bantamweight title for the first time since winning it in September when he takes on undefeated phenom Umar Nurmagomedov.
Islam Makhachev looks to break the record for most title defenses in UFC lightweight history when he takes on Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch six years in the making.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Ilia Topuria could be cornered after a bid opposite Khabib Nurmagomedov
One who is set for an extremely busy night is former lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov, who will corner both Umar and Makhachev in the co-main and main events.
Javier Mendez will of course share corner duties with Nurmagomedov, and he recently revealed that their partnership is still 'a work in progress'.
Prior to Makhachev's title defense against 'Ahalkalakets', he was involved in an online feud with current featherweight champion 'El Matador', who is hoping to secure a fight against the Russian in the near future.
The two have been going back and forth online and may have been preparing for a superfight, but Khabib believes that wouldn't be fair to other lightweight contenders.
Despite the feud between Makhachev and Ilia Topuria, the Spanish-Georgian has been given the opportunity to corner Khabib in the co-main event.
Dvalishvili and Topuria have a great friendship and have always supported each other throughout their journeys in the UFC.
With this, 'The Machine' is hopeful that the 27-year-old champion will find the time to join his corner, which already includes John Wood, Ray Longo and Aljamain Sterling.
“Yes, I'm going to ask Ilia (to be in my corner), if he wants this, we'll see,” Dvalishvili told UFC on TNT Sports.
“I'm here, I live here in Las Vegas, train here at Syndicate MMA and John Wood coaches me. Ray Longo is flying from New York and Aljamain Sterling, my best friend and training partner, will be with me.
“I'm going to ask Ilia if he has time and go from there,” he continued.
Merab Dvalishvili has been told he can only train at the UFC PI at certain times
Recently, Dvalishvili revealed that he was turned away from the UFC Performance Institute because he was told that Nurmagomedov and his team were already training there and the UFC wanted to avoid any altercation.
'The Machine' would receive treatment at the PI for an ongoing injury, hoping to get it resolved before the fight.
The Georgian has been told that he can go to the performance institute after 2 p.m., while Nurmagomedov and his team can train there in the morning.
'Now I think he'll be here tomorrow morning and I think I can come after 2pm. I was angry because he disrespected me on Twitter, which I don't deserve from him, because I know him personally and I always show him respect and always have a nice conversation with him,” Merab explained to Michael Bisping.
Nurmagomedov recently revealed that he recently suffered a broken arm and was warned by doctors not to fight in January. Nevertheless, unlike many other title fights, there will be no backup fighters present in case of a last-minute withdrawal.
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