What Happened at UFC’s Winter Pay-Per-Views?

As the weather turned cold this past winter, UFC stayed hot, putting on three pay-per-views over the first three months of 2025. Let’s take look back at each:

UFC 311

UFC came rolling into Inglewood, California’s Intuit Dome on January 18 with a card that saw the bantamweight and lightweight titles on the line.

The main card got off to a quick start as American middleweight Kevin Holland and Brazilian heavyweight Jailton Almeida made quick work of their opponents, with each winning in the first round – Holland by rear-naked choke and Almeida by punches.

Next up was a light-heavyweight clash between two former champions. In what was a thrilling fight, Jiří Procházka knocked out Jamahal Hill in the third round. While the Czech is probably still a notch below the top fighters in the division, his charisma and fan-friendly style will always make him a draw.

In the bantamweight contest, Umar Nurmagomedov challenged Merab Dvalishvili for the division’s belt. While Dvalishvili retained his title by unanimous decision, it was an evenly matched contest, and the pair proved that they’re the cream of the crop at bantamweight. Given how incredible the fight was, and how unlikely it is that anyone else in the division can offer as much of a challenge to each man as the other, it’s likely that UFC fans will get a rematch soon enough.

The final fight of the night saw Islam Makhachev showcase his implacable poise against last-minute replacement Renato Moicano. None of the distractions – Makhachev’s teammate Nurmagomedov suffering his first professional loss; original opponent Arman Tsarukyan withdrawing with a back injury a day before – seemed to faze the Russian champion. He easily submitted Moicano in the first round to extend his win streak to 15, the second longest in UFC history. Whether he stays at lightweight to defend his title or moves up to welterweight, Makhachev will have the eyes of the sport on him.

UFC 312

Coming into UFC 312, there was reason to think the two matchups at the top of this card would be competitive. Dricus De Plessis and Sean Strickland were rematching after going five close rounds in January 2024, and strawweight great Zhang Weili was facing an undefeated challenger in Tatiana Suarez.

Reality proved otherwise.

In the main event, Du Plessis retained the title he had taken from Strickland in 2024 by beating the American middleweight more convincingly than he did in their first bout, winning on scorecards of 50-45, 50-45, and 49-46. The victory sets the South African up for what could be an exciting rest of 2025. A highly anticipated matchup with Khamzat Chimaev may come next, and victory there would vault Du Plessis into the upper echelons of the sport, as well as put him in a position to have a third fight by year’s end.

Since joining UFC, Tatiana Suarez had faced little resistance. Using her prodigious wrestling skills, she had repeatedly taken down her opponents. During UFC 312, she did succeed in taking down Zhang Weili…but only once.

Zhang shut the door on her younger opponent after that lone takedown, repelling each of Suarez’s next 14 attempts on her way to winning a wide unanimous decision. With Zhang having cleared out the strawweight division, the time may be right for her to move up in weight to face Valentina Shevchenko in what would be a matchup of two of the greatest female fighters in UFC history.

Elsewhere on the card, Australian lightweight Quillan Salkilld gave the fans at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney something to cheer about when he knocked out opponent Anshul Jubli in 19 seconds. Overall, however, UFC 312 was lacking in top talent from Australia and New Zealand. With the third card in a three-event agreement with the New South Wales government still to come, local fans may be calling for a stronger collection of fights next time out.

UFC 313

Alex Pereira came into UFC 313 on a remarkable run. ESPN’s 2024 Fighter of the Year had won five fights in a row since moving up to light heavyweight, a division in which he scored three victories in 2024.

The pace may have been too furious to maintain. In what was his fifth bout in less than 500 days, “Poatan” lost to challenger Magomed Ankalaev by unanimous decision.

On paper, the defeat was a major upset; however, given Pereira’s recent schedule, it wasn’t as much of a surprise as one might expect. Dropping the belt may actually reduce the pressure on Pereira to defend a title and give him time to rest so he’s at full strength for his next bout, whether that’s a rematch with Ankalaev or a much-anticipated move to heavyweight.

Like Pereira, Justin Gaethje came into UFC 313 with significant mileage. Indeed, some thought the lightweight might be done after he suffered a heartbreaking knockout to Max Holloway last April. His performance at UFC 313 showed that the 36-year-old still has plenty left in the tank.

Facing a late replacement in Rafael Fiziev, “The Highlight” lived up to his moniker by turning in another fan-friendly fight. With his unanimous decision victory, Gaethje has plenty of options in front of him, one of which could be a title shot against Makhachev.

UFC 313 also saw Amanda Lemos win a Brazilian-vs.-Brazilian matchup over Iasmin Lucindo and American lightweight Jalin Turner record a first-round submission over Ignacio Bahamondes. In the most memorable moment of the undercard, lightweight Mauricio Ruffy scored a wheel-kick knockout on King Green, only the fifth time in the division’s history there has been a knockout by wheel kick.