Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano booked for UFC 311

An important lightweight contender fight has been added to the first UFC pay-per-view event of 2025.

Beneil Dariush and Renato Moicano will collide in a three-round bout Jan. 18 at UFC 311 from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., the promotion announced Thursday.

Dariush (22-6-1 MMA, 16-6-1 UFC) enters the bout on a two-fight skid that consists of first-round TKO losses to Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan. The consecutive defeats have come after eight-straight wins.

Moicano (20-5-1 MMA, 12-5 UFC) has won six of his most recent seven outings, with the lone loss a short-notice catchweight unanimous decision defeat to Rafael dos Anjos. Moicano has won three in a row, most recently brutalizing Benoit Saint Denis in September.

With the addition, the UFC 311 lineup includes:

• Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan – for lightweight title

• Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov – for bantamweight title

• Jamahal Hill vs. Jiri Prochazka

• Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder

• Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac

• Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano

• 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.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano booked for UFC 311