UFC 315, set for May 10, 2025, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, promises an explosive welterweight title clash as champion Belal Muhammad defends his belt against No.5-ranked Jack Della Maddalena. Muhammad claimed the welterweight title back in July of 2024, as he defeated Leon Edwards via unanimous decision, and absolutely dominated his way through the fight. Muhammad found the blueprint to beating Edwards, and that was to take the fight to the ground. Edwards had absolutely no answers for the current reigning champ, and hence lost the title.
Since July of 2024, Muhammad has been enjoying his time as the welterweight champion, but now he faces a formidable foe in Maddalena, who will be replacing Shavkat Rakhmonov, since he is out with an injury. While many have overlooked Maddalena, he has stated that he’s confident about his chances against the current welterweight champ, and the question to be answered is if we’ll see a new champion get crowned at UFC 315. So let’s dive a little deeper to see who could come out on top.
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Belal Muhammad is currently listed as the -250 favorite to win the fight against the +200 underdog Jack Della Maddalena. And while many fans may think that this fight is a lopsided contest, it is a lot closer than many think it is.
We believe that Muhammad still has the upper hand in the fight, but not by a huge margin. The champ’s best bet of taking down Maddalena is by making it a long and grinding match by take the fight to the ground. Muhammad is a master when it comes to slowing down strikers, and he also has the ability to dictate the pace of the fight. If the Aussie is unable fight off Belal’s grappling, we could be looking at the champ winning his first title defense fight.
Meanwhile Maddalena is a great striker, but there are concerns about his grappling defense going into the fight. However, against Gilbert Burns, JDM showed that he can still win even when he has to face elite grapplers. Maddalena finished the fight off with a brutal knee to Burns, even after he was taken down to the ground multiple times. He’s a very poised, and patient fighter, whose counter attacks could be all it takes to take the defending champ down.
We are expecting Belal Muhammad to constantly hound the Aussie, and keep him on the ground, and ultimately win the fight via another unanimous decision, similar to what he did with Edwards. However, Maddalena is a lot better than Edwards when it comes to his ground and takedown defense, so the fight could go either ways.
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