On Saturday night, Islam Makhachev was simply outstanding in his execution of the game plan as he broke down Jack Della Maddalena over five rounds to take the UFC welterweight title at Madison Square Garden. The one-time lightweight champ, who move up a weight class for a fresh challenge, didn’t give any sign of inferiority as he overwhelmed the Aussie with slick grappling and unyielding pressure.
After the start of the fight, Makhachev was already landing precise blow to the calf and in no time, he was able to switch the fight to the mat with his wrestling attack. On the ground, Della Maddalena was completely lost; he had to spend long periods of time defending submission attempts and taking Makhachev’s suffocating control. A quarter of an hour of fighting one-sidedly, all judges have it 50-45, thus Makhachev secured his 16th fight win in UFC in a row and became the 11th fighter in the span of history, who held the record in two different divisions simultaneously.
“This is my plan that no one can stop it…” said Makhachev, then pointing out that he wanted to make his first defence at the 2026 White House event if it happened.
In addition to that, Valentina Shevchenko did what was expected from her, that is, far beyond comparison with Zhang Weili to hold on to the flyweight belt. The 37-year old completely neutralized Zhang by accurate hitting, thoroughly punishing her with body kicks, and perfect grappling, thus winning 50-45 on all judges’ scorecards in another vintage performance.
