Australia’s Jack Della Maddalena was crowned undisputed UFC welterweight champion in Montreal after he outstruck Belal Muhammad en route to a unanimous decision victory at UFC 315.
Della Maddalena outpointed Muhammad on all three judges’ scorecards, 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 to capture the 170-pound title.
The Australian contender started superbly and looked comfortable as he outstruck Muhammad through the first two rounds to establish an early lead.
Muhammad came back in a much more competitive third round, then edged the action in the fourth to keep the fight in the balance heading into the final frame.
But in a wild final five minutes that saw Muhammad enjoy success early with a takedown and some solid ground and pound, Della Maddalena battled back to his feet and lit up the champion with strikes as the pair traded big shots in the closing moments of the fight.
In the end, it was Della Maddalena’s superior striking that proved decisive as he earned the unanimous decision victory to capture the undisputed welterweight crown.
His victory looks set to spark a changing of the guard in not one, but two weight classes. Undisputed lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is known to be keen on a move up to 170 in a bid to capture another title, but wasn’t interested in facing his occasional training partner Muhammad.
But now, with Della Maddalena the division’s new champion, the door would appear to be open for Makhachev to make that move up. That move would then open things up at 155 pounds, with former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria looking to challenge for championship gold. That could come against former champion Charles Oliveira, either for an interim belt or, if Makhachev vacates to move up, the undisputed 155-pound crown.
That will all be ironed out in the coming days as the UFC looks to firm up its main event plans for UFC 317 at UFC International Fight Week. But for now, Australia are celebrating their newest UFC world champion.
And if Makhachev does move up, Della Maddalena is ready to exact revenge for his compatriot Alexander Volkanovski, who lost out twice to the Russian in a pair of lightweight title challenges.
“I’m gonna get him back for Volk”
Jack Della Maddalena calls out Islam Makhachev!#UFC315 pic.twitter.com/CHq8Gds3He
— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) May 11, 2025
“I think it’s a beautiful challenge,” Della Maddalena told Daniel Cormier after his victory.
“He’s pound-for-pound number one. I’m gonna get him back for Volk.”
Shevchenko retains flyweight title
In the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko successfully defended her women’s flyweight title with a hard-earned unanimous decision victory over French contender Manon Fiorot.
Fiorot had significant height and reach advantages heading into their championship matchup, but Shevchenko’s fight IQ and well-rounded skillset proved to be the difference-maker in a closely-contested bout that saw the champion bust up the challenger in Round 1, and drop her in Round 4 as she earned scores of 48-47 on all three scorecards.
It meant that “Bullet” registered the first title defence of her second reign as 125-pound champion, and her 10th UFC women’s flyweight title fight victory overall.
Zahabi edges Aldo in a thriller
There was a big Canadian win on the main card as Aiemann Zahabi edged Jose Aldo after a wild final round that will live long in the memory.
With the fight hanging in the balance, Aldo turned up the head at the start of the final frame and had Zahabi in big trouble with knees and kicks that looked close to scoring a finish for the former featherweight king.
But somehow Zahabi took the best Aldo could throw at him and still came back. And, with Aldo clearly exhausted from his earlier attempts to finish the fight, the door opened for Zahabi, who took Aldo to the mat and hammered him with ground strikes.
A stoppage victory looked to be there for the taking, but by then Zahabi was also exhausted and unable to muster the final flurry that could have earned the stoppage.
In the end, the judges were left to decide the outcome, and all three scored the fight the same to give Zahabi the biggest win of his career.
Silva calls for title shot after outclassing Grasso
It was also a big night for Brazil’s Natalia Silva, who produced a brilliant display of striking and footwork to shut out former flyweight champion and number-one contender Alexa Grasso over three rounds.
Silva was too fast, too slick and too good for Grasso, who had no answer to the rising flyweight star’s speed and precision as Silva extended her win streak to 13 fights with 30-27 scores across the board to put herself right in the frame for a shot at Shevchenko’s title.
UFC 315: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Jack Della Maddalena def. Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) – for welterweight title
- Valentina Shevchenko def. Manon Fiorot (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) – for women’s flyweight title
- Aiemann Zahabi def. Jose Aldo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Natalia Silva def. Alexa Grasso via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Benoit Saint Denis def. Kyle Prepolec via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 2:35
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Mike Malott def. Charles Radtke via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 0:26
- Jasmine Jasudavicius def. Jessica Andrade via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:40
- Modestas Bukauskas def. Ion Cutelaba via split decision (27-30, 30-27, 29-28)
- Navajo Stirling def. Ivan Erslan via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
EARLY PRELIMS
- Marc-Andre Barriault def. Bruno Silva for knockout (elbows and punches) – Round 1, 1:27
- Daniel Santos def. Lee Jeong-Yeong via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Bekzat Almakhan def. Brad Katona via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:04
