At UFC 315, we saw a new champion get crowned in Jack Della Maddalena, who was the underdog going into the fight. He convincingly won the bout against former welterweight champion, Belal Muhammad, who lost his belt in his first ever UFC title defense fight. Muhammad beat Leon Edwards in July of 2024 via unanimous decision, and was coming into UFC 315 extremely confident in himself. His brother and a friend, Islam Makhachev, had his eyes set on the welterweight title for some time, but due to Muhammad’s reign, Makhachev had not made a move to push up to the welterweight division. However, now that Muhammad is no longer the champion, Makhachev has vacated his lightweight title and will take on Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight title in the near future.
Going into the fight against Maddalena, Muhammad had asked Makhachev to book his fight in the lightweight division since he was sure about not losing against the Aussie at UFC 315. But as it turns out, a new champion has been crowned, and since Islam Makhachev has joined his friend’s division, we all wonder what’s next for the former welterweight champ. Muhammad has made it clear that he has no interest in fighting Makhachev due to their friendship and brotherhood, so will he move to the middleweight division next?
In the midst of all the chaos, a new curse has been unlocked in the UFC welterweight division, that has been haunting the past champions. What is it exactly? Let’s find out.
There is a strange pattern going on in the UFC’s welterweight division as the last 3 UFC welterweight champions have not won a single fight since losing their title, and here is the list of the past three champions;
We haven’t seen Tyron Woodley inside the octagon since 2021, and while he hasn’t retired from MMA, we’re not sure if we’ll ever see him back in the UFC again. Woodley won the welterweight title by knocking out Robbie Lawler at UFC 201 in July of 2016, and went on to defend the title successfully, four times. However, Woodley lost his fifth title defense fight against Kamaru Usman, and then went on to lose three more fights. Woodley’s contract with the UFC came to an end, after which the UFC let go of him, and he hasn’t returned ever since.
Kamaru Usman is one of the most skilled and dominating fighters all of time. He beat Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title via unanimous decision at UFC 235, in March of 2019. However, after 5 successful title defense fights, Usman lost his belt to Leon Edwards, and has lost three straight fights. Usman is set to take on Joaquin Buckley for his next fight, and we wonder if his losing streak is finally going to come to an end.
Edwards first won the welterweight title after defeating Kamaru Usman at UFC 278. He went on to defend his title two more times successfully, however, after his loss against Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 for the welterweight title, he’s also lost his fight against Sean Brady, making it two losses in a row.
None of these fighters have won a fight ever since losing their welterweight belt, and now that Belal Muhammad lost against Jack Della Maddalena, we wonder if he’ll share the same fate as the other three fighters. Call it a curse, or just a coincidence, the fact remains that former welterweight champions are still being haunted by their loss till this day.
Also Read: Ali Abdelaziz Explains The Reason Behind Islam Makhachev Vacating The Lightweight Title
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