UFC 310, scheduled to take place in Las Vegas on December 7, does not have a main event.

On Halloween morning, the news came out that UFC heavyweight champion Belal Muhammad He had a bone infection and it strained him. retreat from first championship defense against Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Rakhmonov hopes to stay on the card, but the question is who he is against. Talks that Alex Pereira would return to the Octagon to salvage the event and defend his light heavyweight title have fallen through. MMAFighting.com Friday.

Another potential name was eliminated in the last hour. promotion approved The UFC Tampa main event on December 14 will see the return of Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley in a five-round fight. Garry is undefeated in promotion and currently decisive On continuing to showcase Ireland as a leading country for future UFC champions.

At press time, it’s hard to imagine what the UFC will do next. December pay-per-views have been a staple of the promotion for years. Dating back to the beginning of the ESPN+ affiliation, UFC 245 and UFC 296 featured heavyweight title fights in Las Vegas, making this a semi-mainstream event.

There are few options as you move down the list of men’s champions. The flyweight title fight between Alexandre Pantoja and promotion newcomer Kai Asakura may advance to the main event, but for casual viewers, the excitement won’t be felt in the same way.

Although unlikely, there is one fight that the MMA masses have failed to accept as a possibility: a rematch between Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland.

The UFC has been pushing heavily for a well-documented event in South Africa. But du Plessis was open to re-pairing Strickland when the timing was right. Khamzat Chimaev just defeated Robert Whittaker, putting him in solid position to face the potential winner or the belt itself.

The story between du Plessis and Strickland has already been built. They fought a close battle to reward du Plessis with the title in January. He then went on to finish Israel Adesanya seven months later, largely unscathed.

If both are healthy, this is the flight to take. But the only people who can do this are the UFC brass. Now the MMA community will have to wait.

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