UFC 322: Islam Makhachev vs Jack Della Maddalena has just ended, and I couldn’t be happier to see the Dagestani add a second belt to his collection — continuing the Khabib-team legacy. A tough night for the Australians.

In the co-main, another champion with Russian roots, Valentina Shevchenko, stopped Zhang Weili in her attempt to claim another title.

One night. Two title fights. One belt changes hands.
Here’s my quick recap of the entire event — deeper analysis will come in another post.

🏆 Islam Makhachev Followed the Khamzat Level and Dominated the Champ for Five Rounds

I’ll be honest — on paper, this looked tough for Islam. Jack Della Maddalena was bigger, sharper, and had good grappling under Craig Jones training. It looked like every factor was against Makhachev.

But the former lightweight champion silenced all doubts. He put on a grappling masterclass, showing that his skill level sits on another planet. And with that, he officially joined the Double-Champ Club.

Throughout all five rounds, Islam mixed calf kicks with slick takedown timing. He looked even faster than usual — those lightning-quick level changes, especially the double-legs, were unbelievable good.

What impressed me most was that Islam proved his wrestling doesn’t always rely on the cage fence.
Jack did well defending takedowns only when Islam pushed him to the fence. But this time, we saw Islam shoot right from the center of the canvas, and Jack has no answer for that — pure confidence, pure dominance.
Every defensive game plan from Jack’s camp just went straight out the window. A 50-45 decision for the challenger.

With over 19 minutes of control time — nearly 80% of the fight — Islam Makhachev once again silenced the haters and proved he’s one of the best fighters in the world.
And I’m sure he’s about to take Ilia Topuria’s No. 1 spot in the P4P rankings… no matter how much that guy complains about how “boring” Islam is.

🏆 Valentina Shevchenko Showed the World Why She’s the GOAT of Women’s MMA

Valentina Shevchenko keeps doing what Valentina Shevchenko does — destroy anyone brave enough to challenge her.

This time, her opponent was Zhang Weili, who vacated her Strawweight belt (and Mackenzie Dern claimed it at UFC 321) to move up and test herself at Flyweight.
But things didn’t go her way.

Just like Islam, Valentina dominated the grappling. She dragged Zhang to the canvas, worked from side control, and delivered constant ground-and-pound for five full rounds — another master-class title defense.

Zhang is still a dangerous fighter, but in this new weight class, she’s simply too small.
All the advantages she had at Strawweight disappeared here.
She defended well from guard and made Valentina work sometimes, but it just wasn’t enough to flip the script. A 50-45 decision for the champ.

🌟 Other highlight of the event

🌟 Other Highlights of the Event

The rest of the card was stacked too — and plenty of chaos happened before those title fights:

Michael Morales cut Sean Brady out of the title race with a Round 1 TKO (3:27).
Carlos Prates came back and KO’d Leon Edwards in Round 2 (1:28).
Benoit Saint Denis shut down Beneil Dariush in just 16 seconds (0:16).
Bo Nickal bounced back from his last loss with a head-kick KO of Rodolfo Vieira in Round 3 (2:24).
Erin Blanchfield choked Tracy Cortez in Round 2 (4:44), successfully avenging her loss from their first meeting.

📕 Closing My Thoughts

UFC 322 — one of the biggest UFC events of 2025 — ended with total satisfaction for me.
Everything went exactly as I hoped.

Valentina Shevchenko and Islam Makhachev — two of my favorite fighters — both dominated.
Islam, now a double champ, has plenty of intriguing matchups ahead: Michael Morales, Kamaru Usman, Shavkat Rakhmonov, even Ian Garry if he wins his next one.

If I had to guess, Kamaru Usman is next. That’s the matchup that could define legacy vs legacy — and for Islam, that’s the perfect step to cement himself among the all-time greats.
In my eyes, he’s already a GOAT.
Fighting Kamaru will just make it official.

Related posts:

No-Holds-Barred: The MMA Before 2000s is not the Same Thing as We Used to See Today The Middleweight Throne: How UFC’s Most Balanced Division Forged Its Legends How the UFC Bantamweight Division Built Its Legacy: History and Champions Era How the UFC Flyweight Division Was Formed and Its Champions