By WILL GRIFFEE
Published: 20:02 EDT, 10 May 2025 | Updated: 01:50 EDT, 11 May 2025
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Follow Mail Sport’s live blog for a recap of UFC 315, as Jack Maddalena claimed victory over Belal Muhammad.
This live blog has now closed.
Thanks for your company tonight – a long one but well worth staying up for after the quality of that main event that some thought could be a grind. It was anything but and Muhammad deserves great credit for playing his part. But tonight is about the new champion and a few beers will no doubt be sunk in Perth in celebration of their man conquoring the world.
Australia’s next superstar has arrived
His work on the mic may be understated but he’s an interesting character and JDM’s style of fighting is great to watch. Slick head movement, willingness to throw with real venom and take a shot every now and then, combined with what we now know is legitimate takedown defence. His battle with Makhachev could be epic.
Book it
Lightweight champ Islam Makhachev has already responded to the call-out. What a stellar fight this one would be and the Volkanovski narrative makes it all the more compelling.
A new king at welterweight
The moment of victory was actually pretty understated. Sometimes you get tears, shouting, a massive outpouring of emotion but JDM expected this and said as much. Belal Muhammad’s reign is a short one and Maddalena deserved that win tonight.
48-47, 48-47, 49-46 – MADDALENA WINS
Maddalena: ‘It feels exactly how I thought it would feel. He brings the pressure, I could have been sharper but it is what it is. Coming in there, I couldn’t spend time on my back so I took my breath and made a move. I saw 30 seconds left and wanted to take him out of there, he’s a tough dude, so hard to put away.
‘Australia, we’ve got three of these babies, let’s go! Makhachev is a beautiful challenge, I’m gonna get him back for Volk.’
Incredible fight!
I don’t think we can say Belal is boring anymore. He slugs it out and gets rocked repeatedly before clinching, reversing position and looking like he’ll see out the round on top. Then somehow JDM scrambles out, again punishes Muhammad but then gets taken down again. Damage wise, they both look battered and this one is a close call, we await the judges’ decision.
What a round!
Muhammad produces his best work, showing the kind of approach he did against Leon Edwards, risking being hit to press and land big shots of his own. JDM looks fatigued for the first time even though he is still stuffing takedowns. His corner tells him he is 5 minutes from being champ, while Muhammad’s says he needs the final round to go his way to win.
Muhammad grows into it
The champion looked far better in that round, albeit another close one. Muhammad’s right hand hit JDM hard but the chins of both men are holding up well without even a wobble so far. Muhammad told his coaches JDM is tough to get a hold of but they replied they don’t care and just to go chase him down. Big couple of rounds coming.
A fight on a knife edge
JDM is super confident in there and it comes from stuffing the takedown attempts, which he’s done perfectly to keep the contest at striking range. But the man from Perth isn’t having it all his own way. Muhammad has landed strong punches of his own but not to the same skill or cleanliness as the Aussie.
JDM is flowing
A round of two halves. JDM starts very well, entering an almost flow state to connect with a number of combinations but then Muhammad came back, pushing forward, attempting a takedown that was stuffed but allowed him to get some powerful punches away and a head kick that landed. Fascinating opening.
Muhammad can drown you
Muhammad combines wrestling and striking like few other fighters. He’s built for grappling with massive legs and forearms. While he may not possess KO power, you have to be ready to go 25 minutes at full pace.
He can take opponents into the depths where the lactic acid is too much and he breaks them down. We’re moments away from seeing if Maddalena will sink or swim.
Nearly 1am local time
Jack Della Maddalena is given a warm reception from the Bell Centre crowd and they’re pretty well lubricated by now with the time approaching 1am in Montreal. He walks out to TNT by AC/DC, which nobody can argue with – very strong.
MAIN EVENT TIME
Right then – Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena are about to throw down.
That will be the plan for the Aussie anyway, who has the better striking stats of the pair. He’s a dangerous boxer but there are not prizes for guessing the champion’s gameplan.
His strength, durability and pressure are formidable and suffocating wrestling is the order of the day.
Shevchenko wins unanimous decision
The judges give the champion the nod and that is probably the right call there – the knockdown at the end of the fourth round was the moment of the contest and Fiorot didn’t quite do enough.
War of attrition
Fiorot and Shevchenko trade blows, knowing a punchy flourish to steal the round could be all important. But neither woman can find a way to dominate the fifth. Fiorot looked strong in the closing exchanges with a knee up the middle and both women raise their hands at the end.
Knockdown in round four!
The champion floors Fiorot with a sensational right hand with only a few seconds left on the clock, it was probably already her round having scored a takedown briefly but that punch was the shot of the fight and another few seconds would’ve been very interesting. Fiorot’s corner tell her she needs a finish in the fifth.
Tough to score
Back-and-forth action, with Shevchenko planting a spinning elbow on the target to slightly stagger Fiorot, who responds by pushing for a takedown that never comes, despite her having arms locked and a dominant position. A really tricky one to score and into the championship rounds we go.
Fiorot roars back
Really strong adjustments from the French fighter, who closes out an even second round by securing a takedown and landing what looked like a massive illegal knee to a downed opponent. Replays show Shevchenko blocked it, which was fortunate because it would have done severe damage. Marc Goddard warns Fiorot about her timing as they come out for the third.
Champion quality
Shevchenko breaks Fiorot’s nose with a hook. It’s a shot she lands repeatedly in the opening stanza and manages a takedown at the end to underline her dominance in the opener. Fiorot connect with some powerful punches of her own and her coaches want her to box rather than throw too many kicks.
Next up: Valentina Shevchenko vs Manon Fiorot
Shevchenko, now 37, is one of the UFC’s all time greats and believes her experience will pay dividends tonight in this women’s flyweight bout.
Fiorot is undefeated in the UFC and deserving of her title shot, beating Erin Blanchfield and Rose Namajunas in her last two outings.
Can she get it done against the ‘Bullet’? We’re about to find out.
The end of the King of Rio
If this really is the last time Aldo graces the octagon, he’ll still go down as one of the greats. A shame to end on a loss but it was at least a superb fight.
JOSE ALDO RETIRES
Or does he… it seems as though the legend has called it a day, saying: ‘Thank you to everybody in the UFC, I don’t think I have it in me anymore, my body said no and I don’t want to go into war anymore, I think this is the last time you’ll see me.’
ZAHABI WINS 29-28 unanimously
Huge win for Zahabi and that’s the biggest victory of his career. He says: ‘I did the work, accepted the fight with him being eight pounds overweight and showed up for Montreal. My mindset coach helped me getting rocked, recover and win the next 15 seconds early. I want to fight Marlon Vera next.’
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT
Aldo sends Zahabi scattered to the mat, chases him, kicks him in the head and then does exactly the same thing again. It looks like he’ll finish it but then the tide turns, Aldo emptied his tank trying to get a finish and the Canadian took over, knee to the stomach and a flurry of combinations. Aldo, exhausted, shoots for a takedown, gets reversed and spends the next two minutes getting elbowed and cut on the face. Incredible fight, let’s see how they score it.
1-1?
Zahabi catches Aldo in the groin which pauses the round for a while. ‘The plan is working’, says GSP in the corner and they keep telling Zahabi to push the pace, make Aldo fight on the back foot and he may well have taken that one. Big five minutes coming up.
Great first round!
Aldo starts well, landing ripping shots to the body and looking as slick as he did all those years ago. Zahabi looked a bit shell shocked but smiled and really changed his approach to pressure Aldo late on, trading in the pocket. Knees, elbows and kicks from both men found a home in a thrilling first five minutes.
Next up: Jose Aldo vs Aimann Zahabi
Zahabi once pretended to be Aldo in helping a team-mate prepare to face the King of Rio. Now he’s taking on the man himself. This one is taking place at featherweight because Aldo couldn’t make the bantamweight limit on the scales.
The legend is ranked No 11 but said he will now only fight at featherweight going forward.
Silva sees it out
The No 5-ranked flyweight looks like she’s about to take Grasso’s No 1 spot on after a very professional and largely risk free display. Her opponent, with blood on her face, made a fist of it but the judges all score every round for the Brazilian.
Grasso makes it ugly
The Mexican knows what kind of battle she has to make this to win and its a dirty boxing type of ugly fight. Grasso was sick of being picked apart from range so forced her way in at the end of the second to blitz and bully, absorbing some punishment but also landing well.
Razor sharp Silva
The Brazilian has the better of round one and looks so quick, definitely possessing the speed advantage, landing a side kick to the face. The kicking has been excellent and aside from a couple of nice double jabs, Grasso has not quite got a grip of the fight yet.
Next up: Alexia Grasso vs Natalia Silva
Silva has won 12 in a row and has so much confidence coming into this one against the former champion.
We’ll find out whether the Brazilian is truly elite UFC level tonight and she’s a strong betting favourite for this flyweight contest tonight.
Top name up next for Saint-Denis
BSD WINS BY SUBMISSION
Sensational performance by Saint-Denis. He lands some brutal elbows and knee in the clinch, completely swarming the helpless Prepolec before securing an arm triangle to force the tap. There was a fair bit of anger in that display from BSD and his fight with Joel Alvarez will probably be remade now.
BSD dominates opener
Prepolec survives, just. He hears the bell with BSD locking in a standing rear naked choke incredibly tight. The Frenchman secured an early takedown and then dominated the exchanges on the ground, albeit with his opponent defending the submissions deftly.
Can BSD bounce back?
Benoit Saint-Denis’ back-to-back defeats by Dustin Poirier and Renato Moicano have put his back against the wall and even though the French speaking district he’s performing in might usually support him, he’s facing a Canadian tonight in Kyle Prepolec. This should be a great lightweight contest.
Post-fight speech almost as good as the KO
Malott is the big winner so far tonight and will have bagged a few new fans for himself – who will rival him for a performance of the night bonus?
MAIN CARD TIME
Those pre-lims really delivered and the Malott moment to top it off really has the crowd ticking ahead of the main card – with four fights ahead of the main event and two title showdowns.
What a finish!
He loaded up on that hook and stepped off the centre line to do the damage. A real career highlight for the Ontario man.
MALOTT WINS BY KO
Huge moment for the Canadian on home turf as he connects with a clean left hook to floor Radtke and then land some brutal finishing shots on the floor, knocking out the gumshield and his opponent. Radtke needs help to a stool and Malott sits on top of the cage with the flag draped on his shoulders. He gets emotional in the cage afterwards – ‘When it comes to defending this country in the octagon, know one thing Canada, I stand on guard for thee’, he says.
‘F*** you Radtke’ rings out
In the featured pre-lim, home favourite Mike Malott’s backing in taking the shape of a very, very loud chant against his opponent Charles Radtke.
Colby has been on the wind-up…
RESULT: Jasudavicius wins by submission!
To do this to Jessica Andrade, a legend of the sport, is one hell of a way to get the home crowd going. Brilliant from the flyweight, who is closing in on a title shot.
The king of Montreal
As soon as you say the words Montreal and UFC, there’s only one man who springs to mind… Georges St Pierre, for many the GOAT of MMA. He’s here with Aimann Zahabi tonight.
RESULT: Bukauskas wins by decision
Lithuanian-British fighter Modestas Bukauskas ‘The Baltic Gladiator’ just took home a unanimous decision win on what Daniel Cormier thought was a dubious call. One just gave him every round and another said Cutelaba won all three, with the third scoring it to Bukauskas by a round. Weird cards.
Muhammad’s miraculous recovery
RESULT: Navajo Stirling stays unbeaten
The Kiwi almost finished a teak tough Ivan Erslan in the third round but had to settle for a unanimous decision in the end. He dropped him with a heavy right hand in the third and leapt on top but just could not find the fight-ending blow. Still, he moves to 7-0 with a really impressive showing.
The legend back in action!
What a lovely graphic this is from TNT Sport and outside of the main event, Jose Aldo will be a massive attraction. The CV isn’t bad, is it?
How the early-prelims finished:
The pre-lims have just started but we’ve already had the first bouts of the evening in front of the keen fans who found their seats early before the televised action at Bell Centre.
Bekzat Almakhan def. Brad Katona by first-round KO
Daniel Santos def. Lee Jeong Leung by unanimous decision
Marc Andre Barriault def. Bruno Silva by first-round KO
Order of play:
Navajo Sterling vs Ivan Erslan
Modestas Bukauskas vs Ion Cutelaba
Jessica Andrade vs Jasmine Jasudavicius
Mike Malott vs Charles Radtke
Benoit St Denis vs Kyle Prepolec
Alexa Grasso vs Natalia Silva
Jose Aldo vs Aiemann Zahabi
Valentina Shevchenko vs Manon Fiorot
Belal Muhammad vs Jack Della Maddalena
Hello fight fans!
Welcome along to our UFC 315 live blog – congratulations in particular if you’re an early bird here for the next few hours of scraps, which we’ll round off with a welterweight title showdown.
Can Jack Della Maddalena shock the world and bring it home for Australia or is this the dawn of a long reign for Belal Muhammad?
Key Updates
- MALOTT WINS BY KO
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UFC 315 – Belal Muhammad vs Jack Della Maddalena RECAP: Australian wins bloody war over five rounds to become new champion