UFC 315 in Montreal had it all: a new welterweight champion, a brilliant performance for an all-time great, and a legend hanging up the gloves, among other things.
Della Maddalena conquers the title
In the main event, Australian Jack Della Maddalena showed no fear in his first title defense attempt against Belal Muhammad. He landed hard strikes on Muhammad throughout the night, skillfully avoiding his takedown attempts. At the end of the five-round battle, Della Maddalena ended up with the belt around his waist.
Della Maddalena became a UFC champion so quickly that he barely had time to climb the welterweight rankings. After joining the promotion in 2022, on Saturday at UFC 315, he faced a top-five opponent for the first time. But in terms of championship aspirations, this was the only 170-pound fighter who really mattered: the champion. Della Maddalena dethroned Muhammad by outstriking him over five rounds, moving to 8-0 in the UFC and extending his winning streak to 18.
As soon as Della Maddalena was handed the belt, the narrative focused on his first title defense, which seems to be leaning towards a superfight between lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. Had Muhammad won, the UFC would have gone in a different direction, because Muhammad has trained with Makhachev and both were opposed to fighting each other. But Della Maddalena eliminated that complication and set up what could be characterized as a rematch.
Della Maddalena is from Perth, Australia, making him the third Australian UFC champion, after middleweight Robert Whittaker and featherweight Alexander Volkanovski. The new champion will begin his reign by trying to avenge Makhachev, the man who twice defeated Volkanovski.
It’s a beautiful challenge. He’s the number 1 pound for pound. I’m going to get it back for Volk.
Della Maddalena on Makhachev
If he does, there will still be welterweight challenges ahead, first of all the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov, who was in line for this title opportunity, but is recovering from an injury.
Della Maddalena put on an excellent performance against Muhammad, driven primarily by his precise boxing, but aided by a strong takedown defense. Muhammad, who had scored nine takedowns while taking the title from Leon Edwards last July, only managed three of nine attempts in this fight. That kept the fight on Della Maddalena’s playing field, where he went to work and bloodied Muhammad. Can he do that against Makhachev, who is astute in both wrestling and striking? The odds will surely be against the new champion, but that’s nothing new for a guy who wouldn’t even have been here if it weren’t for another fighter’s injury, but he emphatically proved that he belongs.
Della Maddalena se convierte en campeón de la UFC
Shevchenko sigue dominando
It has come to the point that Shevchenko is taken for granted because her greatness is so familiar. The 37-year-old fighter endured a grueling battle of attrition to retain her flyweight title against Fiorot, proving that she remains the queen of the mountain. Her brilliant career has been so sublime that a victory over another contender is treated as something routine. But Shevchenko stopped Fiorot’s 12-fight winning streak and added another name to her portfolio. She continues to add to her career record with her tenth victory in a title fight, tying with Nunes for the most in UFC women’s history. Not to mention that she is now the oldest fighter to defend a title in a weight class below welterweight.
The expectation is that she will now welcome the challenge of strawweight champion Zhang Weili. A victory over another woman considered one of the greatest will bring her closer to Amanda Nunes as the best female mixed martial artist of all time. Shevchenko is often forgotten as the woman who took Nunes to the limit twice, despite fighting far above her preferred weight class.
Given that Nunes is expected to come out of retirement to fight the winner of the women’s bantamweight title fight between Julianna Peña and Kayla Harrison at UFC 316 on June 7, there could be a scenario where Nunes and Shevchenko face each other for a third time with more than just a world championship on the line.
The dream scenario would see Shevchenko defend her title against Zhang and have one last shot against Nunes if she can regain the bantamweight crown. But even if the latter doesn’t materialize, and there are many obstacles to get there, Shevchenko has cemented herself as one of the greatest of all time.
What was the UFC looking for with Aldo’s return?
When it comes to promoting fights, the UFC is pure ingenuity. Nobody can debate that. The UFC has been growing exponentially for years, and Dana White’s vision for the company has been proven time and again. That said, I don’t understand what happened with José Aldo.
The Brazilian legend came out of retirement last year for one more run, and the promotion ended up scheduling him against Jonathan Martinez, Mario Bautista, and Zahabi. Now, all credit to the three fighters, but did any of them really build their brand after fighting Aldo? Martinez lost, Bautista won a slow split decision, and Zahabi won a very fun fight, but not in a way that really propels him. In other words, the fans got one of the most beloved names in the sport back, and he actually had some gas left in the tank, but now that he’s retired again after the loss to Zahabi, what did the fans really get out of his comeback?
If this comeback was only going to last 12 months, couldn’t the UFC have thought big? I understand using it like anyone else, scheduling it against a number (a ranked opponent) instead of a name, but also, I don’t understand it. The pairing was good enough, but is that all we want for Aldo? I would have preferred to see the UFC find a way to get him in the octagon with Sean O’Malley, whom Aldo might not have beaten, but proved he had enough to make it competitive. There would have been a reward, win or lose.
I suppose that however the UFC went, the result would have been similar, but I felt there was an opportunity to do something more meaningful. A rare slip by the promotion.
