Arman Tsarukyan out of UFC 311 with back injury; Renato Moicano to fight Islam Makhachev

LOS ANGELES – UFC 311 took an unexpected major turn Friday morning, with Arman Tsarukyan withdrawing from his lightweight title fight against Islam Makhachev.

A new UFC 311 main event is now set as Renato Moicano will step in to challenge Makhachev (26-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) for the belt.

Red Corner MMA first reported during the official weigh-ins Friday morning that Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) suffered a back injury, which was subsequently confirmed by Dana White on Instagram.

It’s unclear when or how Tsarukyan was injured as he took part in UFC 311 media day Wednesday and the UFC 311 press conference Thursday seemingly without issue.

Moicano (20-5-1 MMA, 12-5 UFC) originally was scheduled to fight Beneil Dariush at UFC 311. Both men made championship weight at 155 pounds. Although Dariush is one spot higher at No. 9 in the official UFC lightweight rankings, it’s No. 10 Moicano receiving the opportunity of a lifetime as he’s on a four-fight winning streak after he most recently knocked off Benoit Saint Denis last September.

Dariush won’t compete at UFC 311.

In an Instagram post, Makhachev welcomed the last-minute change.

With the change, here is the updated finalized UFC 311 lineup:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)

• Champ Islam Makhachev vs. Renato Moicano – for lightweight title
• Champ Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov – for bantamweight title
• Jamahal Hill vs. Jiri Prochazka
• Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
• Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPNews/Disney+)

• Raoni Barcelos vs. Payton Talbott
• Billy Elekana vs. Bogdan Guskov
• Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
• Azamat Bekoev vs. Zach Reese

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+)

• 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.