Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev is official!
After making eager fight fans wait 10 hours, Dana White finally announced via Instagram that on Saturday, November 15, ‘JDM’ will put his middleweight world championship on the line against the former lightweight king at UFC 322. The event will emanate from the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.
It will be Della Maddalena’s first time defending the 170-pound crown since wrestling it away from Belal Muhammad in May.
Literally hours after the belt was wrapped about the Aussie’s waist, Makhachev revealed that he would vacate his lightweight title to move up a weight class and challenge ‘JDM’ for his newly-gotten gold.
But White wasn’t done there.
Shevchenko vs. Zhang joins ‘JDM’ vs. Makhachev at UFC 322
The UFC CEO also revealed that Zhang Weili has vacated her women’s strawweight strap in a bid to move up and challenge reigning flyweight queen, Valentina Shevchenko. It will be Shevchenko’s second defense since reclaiming the crown via a dominant five-round performance against Alexa Grasso at UFC 306. In May, ‘Bullet’ bested Manon Fiorot and immediately welcomed a potential champion vs. champion clash against Zhang.
With ‘Magnum’ relinquishing the strawweight title, White confirmed that a new champion will be crowned at UFC 321 on October 25th when the division’s top-ranked contender, Virna Jandiroba, faces BJJ sensation Mackenzie Dern.
Also on tap at UFC 322 is a high-stakes welterweight showdown between former titleholder Leon Edwards and Fighting Nerds fan favorite Carlos Prates.
