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Andreas Hale, ESPN
Belal Muhammad (24-3) will make the first defense of the welterweight championship against the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov in the main event of UFC 310 on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Muhammad, 36, recently won the 170-pound title by defeating Leon Edwards by unanimous decision at UFC 304 in July. His first test as champion will be against a man with a 100% finishing rate.
Rakhmonov, 29, is the UFC’s No. 3 ranked welterweight and has a perfect record of 18-0 with all of his wins coming by knockout or submission. Rakhmonov is coming off of a submission victory over Stephen Thompson in December 2023.
UFC CEO Dana White announced the main event on social media and revealed the co-main event, which will see flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja defend his championship against Kai Asakura.
Asakura, 30, will be getting a UFC title shot in his debut with the promotion. Pantoja, 34, will attempt to defend his title for the third time. In his recent outing, the Brazilian defeated Steve Erceg to retain the title at UFC 301 in May. Pantoja (28-5) is currently riding a six-fight winning streak.
The UFC signed Asakura in June after a long tenure in RIZIN, where he was the promotion’s bantamweight champion. He enters the UFC with a pro record of 21-4.
White also announced the return of Nick Diaz (26-10), who will face Vicente Luque (22-10-1). It will be Diaz’s first fight since losing by stoppage to Robbie Lawler in September 2021. The promotion attempted to put the fight together for August in Abu Dhabi, but Diaz was pulled due to a “travel issue.”