UFC 310’s main event is a mystery story that takes place in a narrative genre that’s less about whodunit and more about who it is. Saturday’s bout pits an understated champion from a lesser-known weight class, men’s flyweight Alexandre Pantoja, against a challenger many U.S. fans will be seeing for the first time: Kai Asakura. Maybe it’s the UFC’s way of building excitement by venturing into the unknown.

And yet there’s an undercurrent of familiarity to this weekend’s main event in Las Vegas (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET). When Pantoja steps into the Octagon, he may even feel like he’s entering a déjà vu experience: like last time, he’ll be staring across the cage at a challenger little known. In May, at UFC 301, Pantoja defended his title against Steve Erceg, who was unranked by ESPN and had barely broken into the UFC’s top 10. The champion passed this unremarkable test by a unanimous but hard-fought decision.

Now Pantoja gets Asakura, who will be making his UFC debut. However, fans across the Pacific Ocean know that the challenger is no newcomer to combat sports. The 31-year-old from Japan, a two-time former Rizin bantamweight champion with notable victories (Kyoji Horiguchi, Manel Kape, Juan Archuleta), has been competing professionally for 12 years – just never before in the United States.

As for the 34-year-old Pantoja of Brazil, he is quietly restoring the stability the flyweight division hasn’t seen since the days of Demetrious Johnson. Of course, the stability isn’t anywhere near “Mighty Mouse” levels, as Johnson was champion from 2012 to 2018 – a reign of 2,142 days, the second-longest in UFC history. Johnson has tied the record of 11 consecutive title defenses, while Pantoja is aiming for just his third title defense this weekend.

However, if he is successful, Pantoja (a -260 favorite to win, according to ESPN BET) would join light heavyweight Alex Pereira and lightweight Islam Makhachev as the only current UFC champions with more than two defenses of the throne. He’s not a big player like the other two, but Pantoja is picking up steam and has moved into the ESPN top five pound for pound.

When it comes to championship credibility, Pantoja may be nothing more than a mini-mouse. But to his credit, he doesn’t treat the 125-pound belt like a hot potato like his predecessors Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo did for three years. Between the summers of 2020 and 2023, Moreno and Figueiredo met four times, trading the feud back and forth, with each ending the other’s brief reign before either could gain momentum. Pantoja finally broke the deadlock with a win over Moreno in July 2023 and has retained the UFC title ever since.

Will Pantoja emerge from the shadows and shine in the main event spotlight? Or will Asakura make an unbeatable first impression? That’s the core story at UFC 310, but if it’s not flashy enough to attract fight fans, the promotion bolsters the card with a terrific co-main event between undefeated welterweights as well as some former champions and more. Here are five of the exciting stories.

---

1. No reason to miss this

Welterweight: Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Machado Garry

After saying all the nice things about the main event, it’s the co-main event that interests me much more. How could you say anything about an undefeated vs. undefeated matchup with both participants high in the rankings? Rakhmonov (18-0), ESPN’s No. 3 ranked man at 170 pounds, was scheduled to be in the main event, challenging Belal Muhammad for the welterweight title. But the champion suffered an infection in training and rather than wait, Rakhmonov decided to fight on against sixth-ranked Machado Garry (15-0). It’s a bold move for both men to take this fight, especially Rakhmonov, who is now considered a future champion based on his 18 finishes in 18 fights. I’m glad he took the risk. No disrespect to Muhammad, but even without the belt on the line, this is a more appealing matchup than the title fight would have been. It’s a rarity to see a clash between two top ranked MMA fighters who don’t know what it feels like to lose.

---

2. Something new to freshen things up

Men’s Flyweight Championship: Alexandre Pantoja (c) vs. Kai Asakura

Some may consider it a negative for the UFC to give a fighter making his debut a shot at the title. I probably would have shared this opinion if Asakura had won against a clear No. 1 contender, but no 125-pounder gets the Tom Aspinall treatment here. Asakura’s spot could have gone to another Japanese fighter if Tatsuro Taira – ESPN’s No. 1 fighter under 25 – hadn’t ended his undefeated run at the hands of Brandon Royval in October. However, the title fight could not be shifted to Royval as he already had two chances at Pantoja. Brandon Moreno had three. Pantoja is the absolute owner of this division and that has led the UFC to think outside the box and bring in the mystery man Asakura. And the unknown fascinates me far more than if I had continued the endless parade of rematches that have sucked the life out of the 125-pound championship photo.

---

3. They can’t keep their hands off each other

Featherweight: Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling

For fans of the co-lead’s impeccable matchmaking, here’s a pairing of a former champion and an undefeated fighter. Sterling, who moved up to 145 pounds after ending his bantamweight reign last year, will have his wrestling tested by Evloev (18-0), who has landed multiple takedowns in all but one of his eight UFC fights. Each of these fights, by the way, ended in a decision, which may satisfy grappling nerds but will unsettle those who live for the thrill of a knockout or submission. I’ve seen Sterling beat some top players (TJ Dillashaw, Cory Sandhagen), so maybe it doesn’t matter that we’re listening to Bruce Buffer read off scorecard numbers that we probably think should be reversed . Don’t expect a brawl, but it’s worth watching such good fighters go to work. (The other former champ in action at UFC 310: Chris Weidman, who faces Eryk Anders.)

---

4. No landing pad for a big leap forward

Heavyweight: Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov

After his no-show performance in a two-minute submission loss to Jon Jones early last year, Gane somewhat revived his reputation with a second-round TKO of Serghei Spivac in September 2023. But he has been idle for over a year. While it’s not his fault – this fight was scheduled for October until Volkov injured his knee in training – any momentum the big Frenchman had has hit the wall. It is unclear whether a win here would move either player forward. The division is at Jones’ mercy, and the Gane-Volkov winner can only tread water until his time comes. Keeping your head above water can be a challenge in a choppy, heavy sea full of sharks with big teeth and bigger fists.

---

5. Do not stand up under any circumstances

Featherweight: Bryce Mitchell vs. Kron Gracie

Do you feel happy? This is a coin toss: It could say, “Get your popcorn ready,” or it could be stale bread. Coming from the family that put MMA on the map – his uncle Royce won one-night UFC 1, 2 and 4 tournaments – Gracie has not evolved beyond a clan of jiu-jitsu specialists more than three decades later. The last time Gracie fought, in a lifeless loss to Charles Jourdain a year and a half ago, UFC CEO Dana White commented afterward that he looked like something “from a time capsule in 1995.” It wasn’t a compliment, even though it came from the man whose job it is to convince us of his fighters. However, now Gracie is paired with another grappler in Mitchell. If this competition is driven by the one dimension in which both men excel, it might be fun to watch him eat pretzels. If they were going to start boxing instead, it would be a good time to go into the kitchen and beat a sandwich into submission.