There’s no doubt the UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden this weekend is one of the biggest UFC cards of the year. There’s also no doubt about the star power driving it.
Islam Makhachev gave up his lightweight title earlier this year for the all but certain guarantee that he’d fight for welterweight gold next. When Makhachev, a teammate and now student of Khabib Nurmagomedov, voiced a desire to fight in either Abu Dhabi or New York, the UFC made it happen.
You’d be forgiven for forgetting that it’s Australia’s Jack Della Maddalena who is currently the UFC’s undisputed welterweight champion. He beat Belal Muhammad back in May to win the division’s crown, doing so in the house that GSP built, the Bell Centre in Montreal.
It’s Makhachev stealing the headlines this week, however. Makhachev who is the favorite, albeit a moderate one. If there’s any surprise, it’s that the odds are as close as they are. JDM has, at the very least, impressed and won over a number of doubters.
The UFC 322 co-main event finds a super-fight ready to unfold. Like Makhachev, Weili Zhang dropped her title, the women’s strawweight belt, to pursue a second crown against Valentina Shevchenko at flyweight. Shevchenko is a two-time champ at 125lbs. Zhang is a two-time champ at 115lbs. It’s rare that two champions, roughly the same age, still at the top of their game, collide in this fashion. Which makes Saturday’s co-headliner something special.
All four stars will be on hand for Thursday’s UFC 322 pre-fight press conference, which gets underway at 5PM ET, 3PM PT. Catch a live stream of the proceedings above.
