Makhachev is making light of moving up a weight class to beat Della Maddalena by unanimous decision.
Published November 16, 2025
Islam Makhachev defeated Jacques Della Maddalena in a five-round beatdown to earn a unanimous decision victory and win the UFC welterweight title at Madison Square Garden, while Valentina Shevchenko retained her flyweight title in the co-main event.
Makhachev downplayed moving up after relinquishing his lightweight title for a new challenge, completely dominating his Australian opponent for 25 minutes with stifling grappling on Saturday night for his 16th straight UFC victory.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The 34-year-old began a relentless wrestling attack after softening his 29-year-old opponent with a calf kick, but Della Maddalena was unable to reply and was stranded on the mat for a long time dealing with a submission threat under immense pressure.
“This is my plan. It’s not a secret. All my opponents know this and no one can stop it,” Makhachev said, calling for his first title defense in 2026 at an event scheduled for the White House lawn.
All three judges scored the fight 50-45, making Makhachev the 11th fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two different weight classes.
Dela Maddalena, who had 14 finishes and ended his career win streak at 18 fights, walked out of the cage without the traditional post-fight interview, losing his first title defense since defeating Belal Muhammad by unanimous decision in May to capture the welterweight title.
In the co-headliner, Weili Zhang’s dreams of joining the elite group of double champions were put to rest as the wily Shevchenko outclassed her with another dominant performance to retain her flyweight title.
Shevchenko (26-4-1) won his 11th career title fight with a 50-45 scorecard victory over Zhang.
Shevchenko showed off all her skills, sniping her Chinese opponent, hurting her with punishing kicks to the body, bringing her to the mat and controlling her whenever she felt threatened.
The fighter from Krygistan became the first female UFC fighter to record 60 career takedowns — and the fight actually ended with Zhang on her back.
“I was preparing for this fight as the most difficult challenge of my life,” Shevchenko said in the cage after his customary victory dance.
“This is what I call martial arts. When they are in front of me, they can’t do anything.”
The show proceeded without an appearance by President Donald Trump, a close friend of UFC CEO Dana White. President Trump typically has a cage-side seat at the tri-state area’s biggest events.
However, UFC fans gathered at the Garden experienced a huge brawl well before the main event, with a large brawl breaking out near one of the tunnels used for the entrance to the fight and spilling over into the stands and near the press box.
The fracas, which also involved mixed martial arts fighter Dillon Danis, sent the crowd into a roar and caused a brief delay in the start of the pay-per-view card as police and security attempted to break up the brawl.
Once UFC 322 began in earnest, the fists continued to fly at a breakneck pace.
Beneil Dariush (16 seconds of the first round), Carlos Prates (1 minute, 28 seconds of the second round) and Michael Morales (3 minutes, 27 seconds of the first round) each opened the card with devastating knockouts.
