andNew UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena may already have his next opponent in the form of lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
Maddalena beat Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 on Saturday night to become the new UFC welterweight champion. Moments after the bout the UFC lightweight champ let his intentions be known.
Makhachev took to X to stake his claim.
Islam Makhachev was watching, sounds like it’s time to move up to 170 #UFC315 pic.twitter.com/wiOuH3bZ8v
— Cageside Press (@Cagesidepress) May 11, 2025
“Time to become a double champion #inshaAllah. Let’s go,” he wrote.
Maddalena (18-2) didn’t necessarily disagree either. Champions recognize champions, but Makhachev’s resume demands respect.
“I think there are a lot of good welterweights. Islam, what he’s done, I think he deserves a shot if he wants to step up,” Maddalena told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“That’s not my call. It’s up to the UFC.”
Makhachev was clearly watching the broadcast. He went to X to retweet Maddalena’s post-fight interview, and had his own response.
“You are not Volk I will show you different level. Keep my belt clean.”
Maddalena nearly laughed.
“Come get it. Come get it,” was his response.
Beating Muhammad may have laid the foundation for his fight with Makhachev. With closely matched styles between the two Maddalena has a blue print to work from.
“I think it was a good practice match for Islam,” he said.
Muhammad didn’t shoot very many takedowns in the fight which confused fans. Maddalena knew better than to expect any certain game plan.
“He was saying he wasn’t going to shoot takedowns, but I was expecting I guess an all-around offense. You can never expect anything. You just got to roll with it and that’s I feel like what I did,” he said.
Imagine beating Belal Muhammad and Islam Makhachev back-to-back.
“It’s a pretty good run but it’s just the beginning,” he said.
“Beating Islam would be…yeah this is just the beginning.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Jack Della Maddalena above.
