For the first time ever, Australia has a UFC Welterweight Champion.
In a fight that only became more and more entertaining as the rounds went by, it was Perth’s Jack Della Maddalena who got the edge over Belal Muhammad on scorecards, earning him UFC’s welterweight title.
Della Maddalena won via unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 315 from the Centre Bell in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Saturday night.
The challenger jumped ahead in the fight after three rounds, scoring with the more impactful blows in a bout that had strictly taken place on the feet by that point.
While Muhammad was by no means out of the fight through 15 minutes, slightly trailing behind Della Maddalena output-wise on the feet, the Australian had the bigger moments early. Della Maddalena pieced together quick and clean boxing combos, stinging but never significantly hurting a tough Muhammad.
Before the championship rounds, Della Maddalena was up with the score of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 on scorecards. With two rounds to work, he needed just another good five minutes to secure champ status.
But in likely his best round of the entire fight, Muhammad came back with an impressive fourth stanza, complicating the fight even further.
Muhammad started the fourth round incredibly aggressive on the feet, marching Della Maddalena down with his own shots. Then, after failing earlier in the bout to get the Australian down, Muhammad finally got him to the mat.
The highly consequential final round ended up being the most hectic of all.
While Muhammad found some success in the round, notably getting Della Maddalena down once again and continuing to land with his boxing, the frame will best be remembered for the numerous combinations from Della Maddalena which wobbled the champ.
Della Maddalena hunted down Muhammad with precise combinations, continuing to press even as the fight neared its end.
“I looked up at the clock, I saw 30 seconds left,” Della Maddalena said, recounting the scenario during his post-fight interview. “I thought I was ahead, but I wanted to keep pushing. I wanted to take him out of there. I was gunning for a late finish. But, you know, Belal’s the man. He’s a tough dude. He’s not easy to put away.”
Della Maddalena now joins an exclusive club of Australians who have held UFC gold, sitting alongside former middleweight king Robert Whittaker and incumbent featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski.
Della Maddalena earned his title shot following a fast rise in the welterweight division, having only been on the roster for roughly three and a half years. The 28-year-old turned heads early in his run with the company, scoring four consecutive finish wins in just 14 months.
He continued to win even as he got matched against ranked fighters, getting by Kevin Holland and Gilbert Burns in recent years to establish himself as one of the division’s best talents.
And now with his win on Saturday, he’s the best welterweight in the world.
Muhammad’s reign atop the 170-pound division has now come to an end without a successful outing as champ. The Chicago-born fighter had a 10-fight winning streak heading into this weekend, a run which peaked last July when he went five rounds to end Leon Edwards’ 707-day run with the title.
It seems like the promotion now wants to match UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev against Della Maddalena up at 170, per comments made earlier this week by Dana White.
If that’s the direction they go, Della Maddalena is interested.
“I think it’s a beautiful challenge, he’s pound-for-pound number one. I’m gonna get him back for Volk,” said Della Maddalena, implying he would get revenge after the lightweight champ beat Volkanovski twice in recent years.
Here are the quick results for UFC 315:
Main Card
- Jack Della Maddalena def. Belal Muhammad via Decision, Unanimous (UFC Welterweight Championship)
- Valentina Shevchenko def. Manon Fiorot via Decision, Unanimous (UFC Flyweight Championship)
- Aiemann Zahabi def. Jose Aldo via Decision, Unanimous
- Natalia Silva def. Alexa Grasso via Decision, Unanimous
- Benoit Saint-Denis def. Kyle Prepolec via Submission, Arm Triangle Choke (RD 2, 2:35)
Preliminary Card
- Mike Malott def. Charles Radtke via TKO, Strikes (RD 2, 0:26)
- Jasmine Jasudavicius def. Jessica Andrade via Submission, Rear Naked Choke (RD 1, 2:40)
- Modestas Bukauskas def. Ion Cutelaba via Decision, Split
- Navajo Stirling def. Ivan Erslan via Decision, Unanimous
Early Prelims
- Marc-Andre Barriault def. Bruno Silva via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 1:27)
- Daniel Santos def. Lee Jeong-yeong via Decision, Unanimous
- Bekzat Almakhan def. Brad Katona via TKO, Strikes (RD 1, 1:04)
