Preview: UFC 315 ‘Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena’

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday will do business in Montreal for the first time since 2015, as it brings UFC 315 to the Bell Centre. Two title fights are in the spotlight, as Belal Muhammad looks to defend his welterweight crown against Jack Della Maddalena in the main event and Valentina Shevckenko kicks off her second flyweight title reign with a tough test against Manon Fiorot in the co-headliner. Meanwhile, Jose Aldo and Alexa Grasso are back in action, with the latter getting a fascinating showcase against prospect turned contender Natalia Silva. Finally, the opener shapes up as a clear Benoit St. Denis victory, but he should at least face a willing dance partner in Kyle Prepolec.

Now to the UFC 315 “Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena” preview:

UFC Welterweight Championship

Belal Muhammad (24-3, 15-3 UFC) vs. Jack Della Maddalena (17-2, 7-0 UFC)

ODDS: Muhammad (-192), Della Maddalena (+160)

There have been a lot of unlikely champions in the last few years, and count Muhammad among them, particularly with how his UFC career started out. Muhammad was a top regional prospect when the UFC picked him up in 2016, but he had the type of well-rounded but uninspiring game that suggested more of a journeyman upside. After dropping his UFC debut to Alan Jouban and getting knocked out in his third UFC fight against Vicente Luque, that seemed to be where Muhammad was slotted going forward. Muhammad did well to rebound from that Luque loss with four workmanlike wins, during which time he showed some of the game planning that would pay off years down the line. However, he was clearly outgunned by Geoff Neal in his first fight of 2019—a result that once again seemed to affirm Muhammad as a perennial tough out rather than any sort of future titleholder. Muhammad improved a bit as an athlete and kept getting better on the margins, enough so that the wins kept racking up. A 2021 victory over Stephen Thompson seemed to be the start of a turning point for Muhammad. That was the first time “Remember The Name” truly leaned on the wrestling that has become a backbone of his approach in the years since, and his next fight drove home exactly how much Muhammad had progressed, as he dominated Luque in a rematch six years in the making. A subsequent knockout of Sean Brady has aged amazingly well in the years since, and after stepping in on late notice to help bolster a card with an eventual win against Gilbert Burns, Muhammad was promised a title shot that he finally cashed in on in July. Given the previous questions about his upside and the long road to get to the title, Muhammad’s championship victory looked surprisingly easy. His wrestling is now a clear strength, which came through against Leon Edwards, and this was yet another performance that showed Muhammad to be one of the best-prepared fighters in the sport in terms of using his available tools. Now comes the hard part for Muhammad, as he has to take everyone’s best shot in a division quickly filling up with new contenders, the first of which is Australia’s Della Maddalena.

Compared to Muhammad’s long path to contender status, it does feel like Della Maddalena is skipping the line a bit, but such is the advantage of having a particularly exciting fighting style. The Australian has about the approach you would expect from a man who had his nose flattened by his early 20s, focusing on hard-charging offense and figuring out the rest later. That style got Della Maddalena’s UFC career off to a particularly electric start. His four UFC opponents were all knocked out within a round, and Della Maddalena did his work with some particularly sharp and diverse offense that tore apart those foes, with the Australian’s work to the body standing out for its nastiness. Della Maddalena’s wins were quick enough to raise some questions as to how he would handle adversity, and his first real test surprisingly came against Bassil Hafez in July 2023. It was admittedly a tough spot for Della Maddalena, who had multiple opponent changes before the fight with Hafez was pushed back a week, but he showed some surprisingly poor decision making in the face of a consistent but one-note wrestling attack. Della Maddalena did look better against Kevin Holland, but those issues with wrestlers came back to the fore against Burns in April 2024, which marks Della Maddalena’s last fight. Again, the good news is that Della Maddalena kept fighting hard, in this case earning a brutal knockout in the closing two minutes of the fight, but it still raises some worries that things got to that point. Obviously, having issues with wrestlers doesn’t set up particularly well against Muhammad, who not only has those skills in his back pocket but is also among the likeliest fighters in the sport to realize and leverage that advantage. There is still some intrigue, if only because there’s not a solid comparison for Della Maddalena on Muhammad’s recent resume, at least in terms of being a knockout threat. Edwards and Neal had the power. However, Edwards has issues pulling the trigger while Neal has a much more basic striking approach, albeit one that was still able to get past Muhammad on the basis of horsepower. While the challenger has the best chance of outright finishing Muhammad since the last time he was outright finished, there's too much in the champion’s favor that makes the choice clear. The pick is Muhammad via decision.

Jump To »
Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena
Shevchenko vs. Fiorot
Aldo vs. Zahabi
Silva vs. Grasso
St. Denis vs. Prepolec
The Prelims