Nov 12 2025 | Isaac Garcia | Sports Editor
On Nov. 15, UFC 322 will be headlined by Islam Makhachev versus Jack Della Maddalena, a welterweight title fight that’s been one of the more anticipated fights of the year. Maddalena enters at 18-2, with losses to Aldin Bates and Darcy Vendy, while Makhachev comes in at 27-1 with his only loss being to Adriano Martins 10 years ago. Makhachev has established himself as a machine in the UFC, using high-level wrestling ability to climb his way to the top of the sport and taking down legends and fan favorites such as Dustin Poirier, Alexander Volkanoski — on two separate occasions — and Charles Oliveira. In his last fight at the beginning of this year, he made quick work of Renato “Money” Moicano, submitting him in just the first round.
On the other side, Jack Della Maddalena comes in off of a win by unanimous decision against Belal Muhammad in May, where he won the Welterweight Champion belt, setting up this matchup against Makhachev, who moved up from lightweight.
Della Maddalena has drawn comparisons in style to Dustin Poirier, who, despite losing to Makhachev, gave him one of the most difficult fights of his career. Firas Zahabi, who coached UFC legend Georges St-Pierre, said, “Now imagine Dustin Poirier as a little bit bigger, and JDM, you could say, is a little bit more careful than Dustin Poirier.” The part about Della Maddalena being more careful than Poirier is an important note to make, as Poirier was submitted by Makhachev via D’Arce choke submission after his aggressive nature left him vulnerable to attacks. If Della Maddalena can be a bit more conservative and keep Makhachev struggling to find finishing opportunities, he could very well pull off the upset. Against Belal Muhammad, he was able to hold off multiple submission attempts en route to a decision win, but Islam Makhachev is an entirely different beast.
Muhammad himself commented on the upcoming fight, saying about Makhachev, “He’s very smart, very controlled and doesn’t let you off the hook when you make a mistake. Jack makes mistakes on the ground.” Muhammad continued, “He has moments where he lapses safety. He’ll give up his back, he’ll give up his neck, he’ll give up an arm-triangle, and you can’t do that with Islam. Islam is going to see that and Islam is going to exploit it.”
Muhammad gave credit where it was due to Della Maddalena, commending him for his ability in the standing game and for pushing through tough moments in the fight. He pointed out that in order for him to win the fight, he must avoid letting Makhachev push him up against the cage, noting that Poirier did a good job of keeping the fight in the center of the octagon before being submitted. Of course, this is easier said than done.
However, Ben Vickers, Della Maddalena’s coach, thinks this may be an easier fight than Belal Muhammad was for the defending champion. “Belal’s a bit more unorthodox, so a bit harder to cope with, whereas Islam’s a more traditional sort of striker.” Vickers also mentioned the increase in weight for Makhachev, saying, “There’s two ways it could go. Does not having to cut weight help him or does carrying that extra weight hinder his cardio?”
From the fighters’ side, Della Maddalena said that he would “break” Makhachev, who responded by saying, “I’ve heard this ‘I’ll break you’ thing so many times already. Every fight, someone wants to break me, someone wants to knock me out. People don’t believe such things anymore.”
Della Maddalena definitely does present some problems for Makhachev. Many people seem to think this should be an easy matchup for Makhachev on the road to adding on to an already stacked resume that has some people considering him one of the greatest of all time, but that very well may not be the case. There is a reasonable path to an upset here. Much crazier things have happened in the UFC before, and the Della Maddalena camp seems very confident. The biggest unknown here, of course, is how Makhachev will handle the change in weight. If he struggles with cardio, Della Maddalena could use his more patient style to pick Makhachev apart a bit and neutralize the grappling threat. However, Makhachev is typically very well prepared for all of his fights, so relying on his cardio being poor is probably a losing strategy. It’s just as likely that the added weight and energy from not having to cut make Makhachev even more dangerous and allow him the opportunity to overwhelm Della Maddalena and find a finish. The key factor, really, like Muhammad said, is if Della Maddalena can stay away from the cage and keep Makhachev from using it to put him in compromising situations, the fight probably goes more favorably towards him. Again, these are big ifs, and with a fighter of Islam’s caliber, sometimes you just have to lean towards what’s been tried and true. He’s the current number one-ranked pound-for-pound UFC fighter for a reason, and everyone who’s tried to stop him in the past 10 years has been unsuccessful. What fans are witnessing from Makhachev right now is quite possibly one of the greatest runs put together by a fighter that the UFC has ever seen. Jack Della Maddalena has as good of a chance as anyone who’s tried to put an end to that run, and he may be able to avoid being finished, but Islam Makhachev might just be too much to handle.
Prediction: Islam wins by unanimous decision.
Contact the author at howlsports@mail.wou.edu
