While lightweight champion Islam Makhachev officially has been ranked as the promotion’s pound-for-pound best for quite some time, White has spent the past year vehemently making the case for Jones. But that changed Saturday night after Makhachev submitted replacement Renato Moicano in the first round of the UFC 311 main event at Intuit Dome.

Despite a tragic outbreak of wildfires across greater Los Angeles and a change to the main event just 24 hours before, UFC 311 proved to be an exciting kickoff to the 2025 pay-per-view schedule for the world's leading MMA promotion on Saturday.

Recap Newsweek's UFC 311 fight night updates as reigning champions Islam Makhachev and Merab Dvalishvili retained their titles on a wild night at Intuit Dome.