Islam Makhachev became the UFC welterweight champion with a unanimous decision win over Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 322.
It didn’t take long for the fight to start going Makhachev’s way. After a brief period of striking he was able to lock in a takedown and go to work on smothering the defending champion.Â
Makhachev had the early makings of a choke, but Della Maddalena was able to work his way out of them.Â
There wasn’t much of an adjustment for Della Maddalena in the second frame. Makhachev once again got him to the ground and the only highlight for JDM was an armbar attempt that was easily defended by Makhachev.Â
The Australian did have a few brief moments in exchanges in the third round. But an easy double leg from Makhachev quickly flipped the entire round as Della Maddalena was unable to get back up.
The result was complete devastation for Della Maddalena and his corner. Â
Given the apparent pain that Della Maddalena was in and his domination, it felt like mercy when Makhachev tried to lock in multiple submissions in the final round. He wasn’t able to lock it in, but it was clear that he put in yet another dominant performance for his resume.Â
Makhachev’s dominance continues to be one of the dominant throughlines in the UFC right now. Voters will have something to think about with Makhachev sitting at No. 2 on the pound-for-pound list and Ilia Topuria sitting at No. 1.
The Dagestani fighter now joins the small club of fighters who have won titles at two different weight classes. The 34-year-old is coming off a title reign at lightweight that included a record-setting four-consecutive title defenses in the weight class.
From the sounds of it, he plans on continuing his penchant for defending the belt from all comers in his new weight class.
“I want to do something more, not just become champion,” he told media leading up to the bout. “Second belt, defend, maybe more than Kamaru (Usman), and to become (part of) the Hall of Fame.”
It’s very likely that Makhachev will get to start that goal by beating the very fighter he mentioned. Kamaru Usman made a successful return to the weltwerweight division with a win over Joaquin Buckley and might be running out time at 38 years old.
If one win isn’t enough to get Usman the fight then there are plenty of other interesting candidates. Undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov is still lurking while Michael Morales and Carlos Prates picked up big wins on the card.
None are likely to be favorites over Makhachev at this point.
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