LFA champion gets late UFC 311 opportunity as replacement fighter
UFC 311 is undergoing a fight-week change.
With Sedriques Dumas out of his preliminary fight against Zach Reese, LFA middleweight champion Azamat Bekoev has been tabbed to step in on five days’ notice. X user Octagon Update was first to report news of Dumas’ withdrawal, although no reason was stated. MMA Junkie subsequently confirmed the addition of Bekoev with two people close to the situation.
Bekoev’s management, Sucker Punch Entertainment, announced the news on Instagram.
Bekoev (18-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC), 29, will debut at UFC 311 on a six-fight winning streak and hasn’t tasted defeat since 2021. His winning streak includes a 4-0 run in LFA with two defenses of the promotion’s 185-pound title.
Reese (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC), 30, has rebounded from losing his UFC debut with back-to-back wins over Julian Marquez and Jose Medina.
With the change, the UFC 311 lineup now includes:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan – for lightweight title
- Champ Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov – for bantamweight title
- Jamahal Hill vs. Jiri Prochazka
- Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano
- Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPNews/Disney+, 8 p.m. ET)
- Billy Elekana vs. Bogdan Guskov
- Raoni Barcelos vs. Payton Talbott
- Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
- Azamat Bekoev vs. Zach Reese
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
- Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
- Ailin Perez vs. Karol Rosa
- Muin Gafurov vs. Rinya Nakamura
- Bernardo Sopaj vs. Ricky Turcios
- Clayton Carpenter vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.