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Fight By Fight Preview | UFC 310: Pantoja vs Asakura
Looking At The Lineup For The Final Pay-Per-View Of 2024
By E. Spencer Kyte, on X @spencerkyte
Headlined by a fascinating flyweight title bout between titleholder Alexandre Pantoja and newcomer Kai Asakura, and supported by a host of crucial and competitive matchups across the divisional spectrum, this is one of those events where you need to be locked in, because things are bound to be electric from the outset and only going to keep getting better as the night progresses.
Saturday night has the potential to be special, so check out the night’s menu below and then enjoy this weekend.
Main Event Matchup: Alexandre Pantoja vs Kai Asakura
Alexandre Pantoja puts his flyweight title on the line in December for the second straight year, welcoming former Rizin standout Kai Asakura into a championship opportunity in his UFC debut.
The 34-year-old champion enters on a six-fight winning streak, having successfully defended his title twice already. After dominating Brandon Royval last December in Las Vegas, Pantoja returned to his hometown of Rio de Janeiro in May, emerging victorious in a hard-fought clash with Australian challenger Steve Erceg.
Asakura touches down in the UFC with a 21-4 record and wins over established names like Kyoto Horiguchi, Manel Kape, and Juan Archuleta. The seventh Japanese fighter to challenge for UFC gold, Asakura looks to become the first to earn a victory, and the eighth fighter to hold the flyweight strap.
This is a big-name fight in the 125-pound weight class that ascended to the main event slot when welterweight champ Belal Muhammad was forced off the card. From a stylistic perspective, this is an outstanding clash of styles, as Pantoja is a massive threat on the canvas and dominant in the grappling realm, while Asakura is a dangerous striker with a diverse array of weapons he’s able to utilize to finish fights.
Will the champion retain or will history be made?
Additional Main Card Matchups
Shavkat Rakhmonov vs Ian Machado Garry
It’s a battle of unbeaten contenders in the welterweight division as Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry face off in the co-main event.
Rakhmonov, who was initially scheduled to face Muhammad in a welterweight title fight atop this card, holds an 18-0 record, with all his wins coming inside the distance. He’s only been to the third round once in his UFC career, where he finished Geoff Neal by standing rear-naked choke.
Machado Garry was slated to take on Joaquin Buckley in the final fight of 2024 next weekend in Tampa, but jumped at the opportunity to share the Octagon with Rakhmonov here. The Irish standout has won all 15 of his pro starts, with more than half of those triumphs coming under the UFC banner.
Matchups like this rarely come together at this stage, where two unbeaten contenders face off with a championship opportunity hanging in the balance, meaning one leaves town poised to fight for gold, while the other departs with the first loss of their career. The fact that they’ve trained together in the past adds another layer to this one, but even as a stand-alone battle, this is as good as it gets between ascending contenders.
Ciryl Gane vs Alexander Volkov
More than three years after their first encounter, Ciryl Gane and Alexander Volkov meet for a second time this weekend in the middle of the UFC 310 pay-per-view main card.
Gane returns for the first time since September 2023 when he earned a second-round stoppage win over Serghei Spivac at home in Paris. After going 10-0 to begin his career, “Bon Gamin” is just 2-2 over his last four fights, with both setbacks coming in championship bouts, one against Francis Ngannou, and the other Jon Jones.
Volkov arrives in Las Vegas on a four-fight winning streak, having earned stoppage wins over Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexandr Romanov, and Tai Tuivasa before out-working fellow Russian Sergei Pavlovich last time out in Saudi Arabia. The 36-year-old is 38-10 overall and has won seven of his last nine, with Tom Aspinall standing alongside Gane as the only two men to best “Drago” during that stretch.
While Gane won the first meeting relatively handily, it feels like Volkov comes into this one carrying all the momentum, even though he’s only fought once more than the French heavyweight since that initial encounter. There has been a different level of aggression and urgency from Volkov over his last four, so it will be interesting to see how Gane responds when they stand opposite one another for the second time on Saturday.
Bryce Mitchell vs Kron Gracie
Bryce Mitchell and Kron Gracie clash in a featherweight matchup that has the potential to be a grappler’s delight.
This will be Mitchell’s first appearance since facing off with Josh Emmett last December at UFC 296, where he was knocked out by the former interim title challenger. After earning wins in each of his first five trips into the Octagon, “Thug Nasty” has suffered losses in two of his last three and looks to jumpstart a push forward with a successful return here.
The 36-year-old Gracie hasn’t fought since UFC 288 and enters on a two-fight slide. He dropped a decision to Cub Swanson two fights back in a bout where he curiously did not look to utilize his grappling skills, and then was unable to get anything going offensively when he ended his three-plus-year hiatus against Charles Jourdain.
Typically in instances where two standout grapplers share the Octagon, they end up standing and engaging in a kickboxing match, but with each of these men in serious need of a quality performance, it’s hard to see either — or both — straying from their strength on Saturday night. If we do get a grappling match, it will be fascinating to see who comes out ahead, as Mitchell is excellent on the ground, but he’s stepping in there with a member of the legendary Gracie family.
Nate Landwehr vs Dooho Choi
The main card kicks off with a potentially explosive clash in the featherweight division, as Nate Landwehr faces off with Dooho Choi.
“Nate the Train” competes for the first time since the end of March when he knocked out Jamall Emmers in Atlantic City, earning himself a Performance of the Night bonus along the way. The 36-year-old is both an all-action fighter and a fixture in the Second 15 in the 145-pound weight class, having won four of his last five, with all but one of those victories coming inside the distance.
“The Korean Superboy” is now 33 years old, but still stands as a must-see member of the featherweight class. He snapped a three-fight slide with a draw against durable Canadian Kyle Nelson in February 2023, and finally got back into the win column earlier this year with a second-round finish of Bill Algeo.
You need to be in your seat and completely focused by the time this one jumps off because it’s going to be chaotic in the best way possible from the outset. Individually, neither one of these men is capable of being in a boring fight, and when they share the Octagon this weekend, fireworks are all but guaranteed.
Preliminary Card Pairings
Dominick Reyes vs Anthony Smith
Former light heavyweight title challengers Dominick Reyes and Anthony Smith face off in the final preliminary card bout of the evening.
Reyes finally snapped his extended losing streak last time out, scoring an emotional first-round stoppage win over Dustin Jacoby in June. Smith garnered a first-round finish of his own in May, venturing to Rio, where he submitted Vitor Petrino, but landed on the wrong side of the results in a short-notice pairing with Roman Dolidze at the end of June at UFC 303.
Vicente Luque vs Themba Gorimbo
Welterweight Top 15 fixture Vicente Luque puts his place in the rankings on the line this weekend as he squares off with streaking feel-good fighter Themba Gorimbo.
The Brazilian comes into this one looking to bounce back after getting stopped by Joaquin Buckley in Atlantic City earlier this year and having lost three of his last four overall. Across the cage, Gorimbo aims to keep things rolling, stepping in for Nick Diaz in the midst of a four-fight winning streak that has carried him to the doorstep of the rankings in the welterweight division.
Movsar Evloev vs Aljamain Sterling
It’s a clash of Top 10 featherweights on the UFC 310 prelims as Movsar Evloev and Aljamain Sterling finally share the Octagon in Las Vegas.
Evloev pushed his record to 18-0 overall with a unanimous decision win over Arnold Allen back in December, while Sterling won his divisional debut in April, grinding out Calvin Kattar at UFC 300. Originally scheduled to take place at UFC 307 in October, it will be interesting to see how the additional prep time — and continued chattering between the two — factors into the fight this weekend.
Randy Brown vs Bryan Battle
Business shifts back to the welterweight division here, as experienced hand Randy Brown steps in with former TUF winner Bryan Battle.
The 34-year-old Brown has earned three straight wins and victories in seven of his last nine outings as he looks to wrap up Year Nine on the roster with another win. Battle touches down in Las Vegas off the best performance of his career — a second-round finish of Kevin Jousset in Paris in September where he put himself on the map as someone to watch in the 170-pound ranks.
Chris Weidman vs Eryk Anders
After initially being set to fight last month in New York City, Chris Weidman and Eryk Anders will try it again this weekend at T-Mobile Arena.
Weidman enters off a technical decision win over Bruno Silva in March, his first victory since beating Omari Akhmedov in the summer of 2020. Anders, who was forced to withdraw due to food poisoning last month, scored a decision win over Jamie Pickett in his last outing to move to 16-8 with one no contest for his career.
Cody Durden vs Joshua Van
Cody Durden and Joshua Van share the Octagon in this flyweight pairing that pits the division stalwart against the enigmatic young upstart.
Durden has gone 6-4-1 over his first 11 UFC appearances, serving as a perpetual tough out in the flyweight division, and enters this one off a second-round submission win over Matt Schnell in September. Van makes his sixth start in the last 18 months after debuting on short notice in June 2023, aiming to build on his decision win over Edgar Chairez at UFC 306 at Sphere.
Michael Chiesa vs Max Griffin
Veteran welterweights Michael Chiesa and Max Griffin will stand across from one another this weekend, each looking to build on the success they achieved last time out.
After just over a year away, Chiesa snapped a three-fight skid in August, venturing to Saudi Arabia and submitting Tony Ferguson in the opening round to get things moving in the right direction again. Griffin last competed in February, earning a split decision win over Jeremiah Wells to move to 5-2 over his last seven outings.
Clay Guida vs Chase Hooper
Lightweights with a 17-year age difference between them meet here as Clay Guida takes on Chase Hooper.
The 42-year-old Guida made his UFC debut in October 2006, and rolls back into action this weekend looking to halt a two-fight slide. Hooper, who was seven years old when Guida first made the walk, has gone 3-0 since moving up to lightweight, having earned finishes in each of his last two appearances.
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Lukasz Brzeski
The action at UFC 310 gets underway in the heavyweight division, as Kennedy Nzechukwu steps in to face off with Lukasz Brzeski.
After earning a first-round stoppage win over Chris Barnett in his divisional debut at UFC 308, Nzechukwu makes the quick turnaround here, stepping in for Tallison Teixeira. Brzeski enters in need of a win, having gone 1-4 in five starts since earning a contract on Season 5 of Dana White’s Contender Series.
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