Islam Makhachev will get the chance to headline his first UFC card.
According to John Morgan of MMAJunkie, Makhachev vs. Thiago Moises has been promoted to the main event of UFC Vegas 31 on July 17. The original main event saw Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez, yet Holloway was forced out of the fight due to an injury. Damon Martin of MMAFighting later reported that Giga Chikadze was offered and agreed to headline the card against Rodriguez but the fight was not made leaving Makhachev vs. Moises to be the main event.
On paper, Makhachev vs. Moises seemed like the most likely option to be the main event after the featherweight fight was scrapped. The other fight that could’ve potentially headlined would’ve been Miesha Tate vs. Marion Reneau, yet the UFC decided to go with the two ranked lightweights.
Islam Makhachev (19-1) is currently ranked ninth at lightweight. He was supposed to headline a Fight Night card in November against Rafael dos Anjos but he was forced out of the fight. The Russian, who is the pupil of Khabib Nurmagomedov is on a seven-fight winning streak and is 8-1 in the UFC. He’s coming off a submission win over Drew Dober and prior to that, he beat Davi Ramos and Arman Tsarukyan by decision. He also holds notable wins over Gleison Tibau and Nik Lentz.
Thiago Moises (15-4), meanwhile, is ranked 14th and is on a three-fight winning streak. Last time out, he beat Alexander Hernandez by decision in February and prior to that, earned a decision win over Bobby Green and submitted Michael Johnson. In the UFC, he’s 4-1 with his lone loss coming in his UFC debut against Beneil Dariush. There is no question if he can pull off the upset and beat Makhachev it would set him up to face another top-10 opponent next time out.
With Makhachev vs. Moises as the main event, the July 17 card is as follows:
- Islam Makhachev vs. Thiago Moises
- Marion Reneau vs. Miesha Tate
- Amir Albazi vs. Ode Osbourne
- Sergey Morozov vs. Khalid Taha
- Guram Kutateladze vs. Don Madge
- Gabriel Benitez vs. Billy Quarantillo
- Francisco Figueredo vs. Malcolm Gordon
- Anderson dos Santos vs. Miles Johns
- Alan Baudot vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
- Phil Hawes vs. Deron Winn
- Mateusz Gamrot vs. Jeremy Stephens
- Alan Baudot vs. Rodrigo Nascimento
- Amanda Lemos vs. Montserrat Ruiz
- Abubakar Nurmagomedov vs. Daniel Rodriguez
Who do you think will win, Islam Makhachev or Thiago Moises?