{"id":2283,"date":"2025-11-16T07:13:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T07:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2283"},"modified":"2025-11-16T07:13:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T07:13:23","slug":"makhachev-dominates-della-maddalena-to-win-ufc-welterweight-belt-mixed-martial-arts-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2283","title":{"rendered":"Makhachev dominates Della Maddalena to win UFC welterweight belt | Mixed Martial Arts News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Makhachev makes light of stepping up a weight class to beat Della Maddalena by unanimous decision.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 16 Nov 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">16 Nov 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p class=\"p1\">Islam Makhachev out-classed Jack Della Maddalena in a five-round beat-down to claim a unanimous decision victory and win the UFC welterweight championship at Madison Square Garden, with Valentina Shevchenko retaining her flyweight title in the co-main event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Makhachev made light of stepping up a weight class after relinquishing the lightweight crown to chase a new challenge, utterly dominating his Australian opponent for 25 minutes with his smothering grappling to claim his 16th UFC victory in a row on Saturday night.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p class=\"p1\">The 34-year-old softened up his 29-year-old adversary with calf kicks before launching a relentless wrestling attack and Della Maddalena had no answer, getting stuck on the mat dealing with submission threats under tremendous pressure for long periods.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThis is my plan. It\u2019s not a secret, all my opponents know this, and nobody can stop it,\u201d Makhachev said before calling for his first title defence to be at the proposed event on the White House lawn in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">All three judges scored the contest 50-45 as Makhachev became the 11th fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two different weight classes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Della Maddalena \u2013 who ended an 18-fight career win streak, that featured 14 finishes \u2013 walked out of the cage without conducting the traditional post-fight interview and lost his first title defence since he beat Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision in May to wrest away the welterweight championship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In the co-headliner, Zhang Weili\u2019s dream of joining the elite group of double-champions came up short as the wily Shevchenko out-pointed her in another dominant performance to retain the flyweight crown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Shevchenko (26-4-1) won her 11th overall title fight once she swept the scorecards 50-45 against Zhang.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Shevchenko displayed her full array of skills, sniping at her Chinese opponent and hurting her with punishing kicks to the body, and taking her to the mat and controlling her whenever she felt in danger.<\/p>\n<p>The fighter from Krygyzstan became the first female UFC fighter to record 60 career takedowns \u2013 and the fight indeed ended with Zhang on her back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI was preparing for this fight as the hardest challenge in my life,\u201d Shevchenko said in the cage after her customary victory dance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThis is what I call the art of martial arts. When they are here in front of me, they cannot do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4108992\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4108992\" style=\"width:770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-4108992\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AFP__20251116__2246905258__v1__HighRes__Ufc322DellaMaddalenaVMakhachev-1763268918.jpg?w=770&amp;resize=770%2C513&amp;quality=80\" alt=\"Valentina Shevchenko and Zhang Weili in action.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4108992\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shevchenko, right, lands a big right hand on Zhang Weili during UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden [Ishika Samant\/Getty Images via AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">The show went on without an appearance from President Donald Trump, a close friend of UFC CEO Dana White, who normally has a cage side seat for the tri-state area\u2019s biggest events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">UFC fans at the Garden, though, did get a big fight well ahead of the main event when a massive brawl broke out near one of the tunnels used for fight entrances and spilled through the stands and near press row.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The stir \u2013 which involved MMA fighter Dillon Danis \u2013 had the crowd howling and caused a short delay to the start of the pay-per-view card as police and security tried to bust up the melee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Fists continued to fly at a furious pace once UFC 322 truly got under way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Beneil Dariush (in 16 seconds of the first round), Carlos Prates (at 1:28 of the second round), and Michael Morales (at 3:27 of the first round) each won with devastating knockouts to open the card.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Makhachev makes light of stepping up a weight class to beat Della Maddalena by unanimous decision. Published On 16 Nov 202516 Nov 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Islam Makhachev out-classed Jack Della Maddalena in a five-round beat-down to claim a unanimous decision victory and win the UFC welterweight championship at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}