“The World’s Most Famous Arena” has become a staple of the UFC’s winter calendar, with the promotion heading to the fight card, which has become the UFC’s November pay-per-view venue since their historic first event, UFC 205, back in 2016, with the promotion holding a November PPV every year since, with the exception of the COVID-interrupted 2019.
And, as the promotion prepares to return to New York City once again, the two big fights at the top of the card have been officially unveiled.
Headlining the card is a battle for the undisputed UFC welterweight title, as newly-crowned champion Jack Della Maddalena will put his 170-pound championship on the line against former lightweight king and pound-for-pound number-two Islam Makhachev.
The 28-year-old Aussie captured the welterweight crown with a hard-fought decision victory over former champ Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 in Montreal in May. The change in champion at 170 pounds was swiftly followed by the news that Makhachev had decided to relinquish his grip on the undisputed lightweight title in order to move up to welterweight and chase gold in a new weight class.
The Russian star, who hasn’t lost since his UFC 192 knockout defeat to Adriano Martins in his second UFC fight, has looked almost untouchable for the past decade, and broke the record for the most consecutive lightweight title defences when he submitted last-minute replacement Renato Moicano at UFC 311 in January.
Makhachev had captured the belt with a submission finish of Charles Oliveira at UFC 280, then defended it with back-to-back wins over featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, then former interim champion Dustin Poirier before his planned bout with Arman Tsarukyan was switched on weigh-in day, with the Armenian unable to fight, and Brazilian contender Moicano stepping in on one day’s notice.
But now Makachev has vacated the lightweight title in search of a new tests, and will challenge Della Maddalena in New York on November 15.
The co-main event also features a championship clash featuring a former champion stepping up to a new weight class after leaving their old title behind.
China’s Zhang Weili dominated the world at 115 pounds, but will vacate the strawweight title and make the permanent move up to flyweight as she challenges the most dominant women’s flyweight champion in UFC history, Valentina Shevchenko.
Kyrgyzstan’s Shevchenko first captured flyweight gold back in 2018, when she dethroned Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 to become 125-pound world champion. “Bullet” went on to register seven consecutive title defences, defeating Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Katlyn Chookagian, Jennifer Maia, Jessica Andrade, Lauren Murphy and Taila Santos.
Shevchenko’s reign of dominance came to a stunning end at UFC 285 when she was submitted by Mexico’s Alexa Grasso in Las Vegas, and an immediate rematch at Noche UFC the following September saw the pair battle to a split draw.
It meant Shevchenko and Grasso would fight for a third time, and this time Shevchenko prevailed in decisive fashion as she claimed a shutout win on the scorecards to recapture the flyweight crown at UFC 306 at Sphere.
The first test of Shevchenko’s second reign saw her face surging French contender Manon Fiorot at UFC 315 in Montreal in May, where she edged a tightly-contested battle to retain her title, winning by three rounds to two on all three scorecards. Now Shevchenko will face off against former strawweight queen Zhang in what on paper looks like one of the best women’s title matchups the UFC has booked in years.
A two-time strawweight champion, Zhang will arrive in New York looking to become a two-division champion.
The 36-year-old first claimed UFC gold back in August 2019, when she stopped Jessica Andrade in just 42 seconds to become strawweight champion in Shenzhen, China. She then retained her title with victory over Jedrzejzyk at UFC 248 before losing her belt in spectacular fashion to Rose Namajunas via head-kick knockout.
A rematch ended in a split-decision, and a second successive loss for Zhang, but, after Namajunas lost the belt to Carla Esparza, “Magnum” reclaimed the title with a second-round submission of Esparza at UFC 281.
The Chinese starlet then notched three successive title defences, with wins over Amanda Lemos, Yan Xiaonan and Tatiana Suarez, with the most recent coming at UFC 312 in February,
But now, riding a five-fight win streak that includes four straight title fight wins, Zhang is moving up to flyweight to challenge Shevchenko in a huge title fight in New York.
