NEW YORK — Islam Makhachev showed up to fight week with a black right eye, a tough-looking weight cut, and his usual dominance.
On the heels of what he called “the toughest camp” of his life in preparation to move up to welterweight, the 34-year-old Dagestani claimed the crown of a second weight class, defeating Jack Della Maddalena via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to win the welterweight title.
He became the 11th fighter to win UFC championships in multiple divisions, and tied Anderson Silva’s record with 16 consecutive wins.
The Australian Della Maddalena offered Makhachev the greatest size disadvantage of Makhachev’s career, but the extra inch didn’t make an ounce of difference.
Each round largely followed the same blueprint: Two minutes of forward pressure from Makhachev on the feet, a desperation strike from Della Maddalena and then a cage-rattling slam that left the champion staring up at the Madison Square Garden jumbotron until the horn sounded.
Those stand-up exchanges were where Della Maddalena was supposed to threaten Makhachev’s dominance. But instead, whoever gave Makhachev the black eye in training camp found more success on the feet than Della Maddalena ever did. In the third round, Makhachev nearly connected on the same hook-head kick combo he used to knockout Della Maddalena’s mentor, Alexander Volkanovski, in 2023.
The kick just missed, but the sentiment delivered — Makhachev’s game is only evolving, and the rest of the sport has no answer.
Lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, who won the title after Makhachev moved up, immediately bid to be first in line, saying in a post on X that Della Maddalena needed to learn how to wrestle and that Makhachev looked beatable. “Every day I’m more certain I put you to sleep,” Topuria said.
Makhachev appeared unbothered by anyone as he stood in the octagon with belts wrapped around each shoulder (including one that is out of date). “This is the dream,” Makhachev said, adding that his strategy for each fight is clear but tough to defend.
“All my opponents know this, and nobody can stop it,” he said, before walking off the elevated octagon and grabbing a bottle of water from a table of reporters on his way out.
A nearly identical fight played out in the co-main event, with Valentina Shevchenko retaining her flyweight belt against Zhang Weili, who was moving up from strawweight to attempt the same feat Makhachev accomplished.
Shevchenko, similarly to Makhachev, found her openings, repeatedly took Weili down and stifled her from the top. She said afterward that she planned to stay active in her division and to take on new challengers, while Weili deflected questions about which division she would fight in next, insisting that she needed to rest first.
