Belal Muhammad dropped a razor-close decision to a masterful Jack Della Maddalena performance as he lost in his first defence of his welterweight world title on Saturday night.
Divisive champion Muhammad is a figure of some derision with fans, but there’s no denying the work he put in to earn his 170lb belt as he headed into the main event of UFC 315. Throughout the week, he faced not one by two opponents as Ian Machado Garry did all he could to steal Della Maddalena’s spot.
However, he ended up getting in the cage with the Australian, who had never tasted defeat inside the UFC octagon before getting his shot at gold.
- Who is Belal Muhammad? Remember the name of the UFC Welterweight champion
Belal Muhammad vs Jack Della Maddalena UFC 315 result
Belal Muhammad’s reception from the crowd in Montreal was muted, with fans preferring to back Jack Della Maddalena to take the belt back. Compared to some of the bouts featuring Canadians on the undercard, it was a generally tame reaction to the main event all in all as they headed to the cage.
In the opening stanza, Muhammad seemed unsure of his space to go for a takedown as Della Maddalena landed with big punches on the feet. He shot in with about a minute to go and managed to score with a big combination, but a huge uppercut at the end of the round arguably earned it for the Aussie.
The second was a solid round for the challenger, who hit a rhythm with his striking throughout, but by the end of the third it was clear that Muhammad was beginning to turn the tide. At the end of the round he almost scored a takedown after landing some big shots of his own.
However, Della Maddalena got back to his striking in the fourth, landing huge shots as the champion tried in vain for the takedown. In the fifth, Muhammad got a big takedown but couldn’t stay on top, before pushing again and getting another.
However, Della Maddalena’s defensive abilities saw him able to land huge shots to finish out the fight, pushing it to a razor-close set of scorecards. The Australian managed to get the win on the scorecards and became the 13th welterweight champion in UFC history.
UFC 315 was an exciting night of finishes and new beginnings
While the main and co-main event were expected to be lengthy and more technical affairs it was an otherwise impressive night of fights. The most noteworthy moment came in the main card’s feature bout when the legendary Jose Aldo announced that his second run in the UFC was over as he retired again.
Aldo already hung up the gloves and was entered into the UFC Hall of Fame, before coming back in an effort to push for the bantamweight title. But Aiemann Zahabi had other ideas and a late onslaught saw him earn the win.
In the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko reclaimed gold as she outpointed Manon Fiorot 48-47 to maintain her spot atop the flyweight division. While the main card failed to deliver, there were a number of big stoppages on the prelims.