The final pay-per-view card of 2024 is upon us for the world's leading MMA promotion as UFC 310 invades Las Vegas on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
Although the card lost its original headliner due to an injury suffered by welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, the replacement main card remains creatively strong, as does the amount of recognized names up the undercard.
The only title fight on the card will take place in the main event as flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja looks for his third defense against UFC-newcomer Kai Asakura.
Let's take a closer look at the biggest storylines entering this weekend.
1. Ian Machado Garry's quest for greatness has become the card's main draw
Initially, when top welterweight contender Shavkat Rakhmonov found himself in the main event against Muhammad, the plotline involving his long-awaited march to the 170-pound title (and whether or not the new champion could put up enough resistance) was the central storyline. But Muhammad's withdrawal moved Rakhmonov to the co-main event in a non-title fight, opening up the door for the 15-0 Garry to accept -- without question -- the toughest test of his career. Despite a solid trio of victories over the past 16 months against veterans Neil Magny, Geoff Neal and Michael "Venom" Page, the Rahkmonov fight represents the 27-year-old Garry moving all of his chips to the center of the table to find out how great he can truly become. In this case, the often-maligned Garry deserves immense respect for being so brave and opportunistic. And while Garry is roughly a 3-to-1 underdog against his fellow unbeaten opponent, the Rakhmonov fight offers him a shot at overnight credibility and a legitimate star turn should he get the victory against the division's uncrowned champion who has finished all 18 of his professional opponents. It's one thing when a promotion or a fan base anoints a fighter as a star before he actually earns it. But it's another thing, altogether, to seek the same acclaim the old-fashioned way by entering such a dangerous fight as the underdog and betting on oneself.
2. Shavkat Rakhmonov is taking the kind of risk very few others would
For an 18-0 fighter who had already secured a shot at Muhammad's welterweight title, the decision Rakhmonov made to stay on the card and compete in a No. 1 contender's match against Garry would be a crazy notion for most. But few fighters in UFC history can match the scary nature of what the Kazakh fighter, who was born in Uzbekistan, represents. Not only does he enjoy the delicacy of horse meat above all else (with the animal doubling as his favorite), Rakhmonov's early regional bouts saw him walk to the cage wearing the fur of animals he hunted and executed himself. Rakhmonov is just as scientifically barbaric in the manner in which he breaks down and finishes his opponents. So, given his stretch of outright dominance through six trips to the Octagon, it may not come as a surprise that Rakhmonov believes he can beat any 170-pound fighter on the planet, which makes subbing Muhammad for Garry not that much of a stretch. But from a business standpoint, how many other elite fighters would've jumped at the exact same opportunity? (For the record, the correct answer, in this case, is almost none.)
3. Alexandre Pantoja is quickly becoming one of UFC's important champions
Consider the above phrase as one few would ever have truly considered in the past. But in a division so well-known for parity and the idea that anyone could win the title on any given night, Pantoja has become nothing if not consistent. And as UFC now sets to close out its calendar year with another huge event, Pantoja finds himself set to headline his second PPV card in 2024 alone as so many other top names, amid injuries and other concerns, have failed to make a second appearance at all this year. Pantoja has also provided a rare level of stability atop the flyweight rankings after his close decision over another UFC newcomer in Steve Erceg in May extended his current streak to six. Even more impressively, Pantoja is also currently 9-0 against fighters ranked in the top 10 of the 125-pound division. For a fighter at 34 who is a veteran of 33 pro fights and 15 walks to the Octagon, Pantoja has also been able to shake off a large amount of damage accrued -- including his brutal title win over Brandon Moreno in July 2023 -- and continue to find new ways to win in close fights.
4. Kai Asakura has lucked into red carpet treatment for UFC debut
As a two-time former RIZIN bantamweight champion and one of the top global fighters who have yet to step foot inside the Octagon, there would already be a decent amount of buzz for the 31-year-old Asakura to be making his UFC debut. That buzz, however, would likely have been confined to the more hard-core circles of the UFC's fanbase. But when you combine the injury to UFC 310's original headliner in Muhammad and the fact that Pantoja has quickly cleaned out the top-end of the division (which would necessitate finding him fresh meat to defend his title), Asakura's debut was given priority clearance. Add in the fact that UFC has struggled of late to fill out the main and co-main events of PPV cards with enough star power to warrant the increasingly exorbitant ticket prices and you have the perfect recipe for Asakura to be given red-carpet treatment for his first UFC walk, in the main event of 2024's final PPV card from Las Vegas. Luckily for fans, Asakura has an exciting style and should find himself in a shootout with Pantoja. Either way, Asakura has gotten the best possible opportunity to get his name known fast as he looks to become the rare modern fighter to make his debut in a UFC title bout.
5. Aljamain Sterling fighting on preliminary card makes zero sense
Imagine being a former champion of the sport's deepest division who, in the past two years, made bantamweight title defenses against the likes of Petr Yan, TJ Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo. Then imagine, after losing his your title to Sean O'Malley and rebounding with a big win in your featherweight debut against veteran Calvin Kattar, that your next fight would be seven bouts removed from the main event and buried on the preliminary card. That's the reality for Sterling, a 35-year-old who remains among the top 15-20 pound-for-pound fighters on the planet yet somehow lost a slot on the PPV card to the mercurial Kron Gracie (who hasn't won since 2019) and Doo-hoo Choi (who has just one win since 2016). Yes, Sterling isn't always the most exciting fighter. But this matchup against the 18-0 Movsar Evloev is easily the third most important fight on the UFC 310 card from the standpoint of what a victory could do for either fighter within their respective division. Evloev is fresh off of a trio of huge wins over Dan Ige, Diego Lopes and Arnold Allen entering this meeting between top-10 fighters at 145 pounds. And Sterling, given his history and name value, could very well find himself to be a darkhorse title contender should he add Evloev's name to Kattar on his growing featherweight resume. It's a great fight with huge stakes and yet almost no one is talking about it. Sterling deserves better.
