Another fun matchup in the lightweight division has been added to UFC 311 in January.
On Jan. 18 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, USA TODAY SPORTS/MMA Junkie-ranked lightweight No. 8 Grant Dawson will meet Diego Ferreira in the first pay-per-view of 2025. The news was first reported by Fight Bananas. Both camps have publicly shared the matchup on social media, and MMA Junkie also confirmed the booking with a source familiar with the booking.
Dawson (22-2-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) will enter the contest on a two-fight winning streak, with both wins coming in 2024. His most recent fight was a second-round TKO stoppage of Rafa Garcia in October, which came after a unanimous decision win over Joe Solecki in June.
Ferreira (19-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) also has won back-to-back fights, although the judges were not needed for either victory. In May 2023, Ferreira knocked out Michael Johnson in the second round and followed that up with a third-round TKO of Mateusz Rebecki. Both finishes earned $50,000 Performance of the Night bonuses.
With the addition, the UFC 311 lineup includes:
- Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
- Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
- Muin Gafurov vs. Rinya Nakamura
- Bogdan Guskov vs. Johnny Walker
- Ailin Perez vs. Karol Rosa
- Sedriques Dumas vs. Zach Reese
- Raoni Barcelos vs. Payton Talbott
- Bernardo Sopaj vs. Ricky Turcios
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.
