UFC 322 hits New York City this Saturday, with two massive title fights topping one of the biggest cards of the calendar year.
They are, in reality, champ versus champ fights, though the reality of the modern UFC landscape as it heads into the Paramount+ era necessitated that both Islam Makhachev (lightweight) and Weili Zhang (strawweight) drop their respective titles prior to moving up to challenge for a second.
And so only Jack Della Maddalena and Valentina Shevchenko will hold gold to start the night at Madison Square Garden this Saturday.
With apologies to the main event, especially given that Jack Della Maddalena has proven himself to be a very good fighter, it’s Shevchenko vs. Zhang that qualifies not just as a champ vs. champ fight, but a super-fight. There simply aren’t enough faces on Mt. Rushmore to make that silly MMA analogy any longer, but on the women’s side of the sport, you might look at it something like this: Gina Carano, Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Valentina Shevchenko, and Weili Zhang have had the biggest impact on the sport. Honorable mentions might go to the likes of Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, Rose Namajunas, and pioneers like Megumi Fujii and Jessica Aguilar (that latter’s career trailed off too badly to have at the forefront).
But Zhang and Shevchenko are two current, again excusing one vacated title, UFC champions, two UFC stars, two future Hall of Famers. While the jury is still out on JDM (he’s still new, in his first title defense), their legacy is set in stone.
And the UFC 322 co-main event is very much about legacy. It’s what the main event is as well, as Makhachev looks to arguably surpass friend, mentor and teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov as the most dominant fighter to come out of Dagestan.
Weigh-ins for UFC 322 take place Friday morning in New York, NY, kicking off at 9AM ET, 6AM PT. Results can be found below.
Beneil Dariush was the lone fighter to miss weight for UFC 322, coming in 1.2lbs over the non-title lightweight limit. He did not make a second attempt, and has been fined 20% of his pure. His fight with Benoit Saint-Denis moves forward however.
UFC 322: Maddalena vs. Makhachev Weigh-In Results
Main card
Welterweight: Jack Della Maddalena (c) (169.8) vs. Islam Makhachev (170) – for the UFC welterweight championship
Women’s Flyweight: Valentina Shevchenko (c) (124.6) vs. Weili Zhang (124.2) – for the UFC women’s strawweight championship
Welterweight: Sean Brady (169.4) vs. Michael Morales (170.6)
Welterweight: Leon Edwards (170) vs. Carlos Prates (169.6)
Lightweight: Beneil Dariush (157.2)* vs. Benoît Saint Denis (155.6)
Preliminary card
Middleweight: Bo Nickal (185.8) vs. Rodolfo Vieira (186)
Middleweight: Roman Kopylov (185.2) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (185.8)
Women’s Flyweight: Erin Blanchfield (125.8) vs. Tracy Cortez (125.6)
Featherweight: Malcolm Wellmaker (143.6) vs. Ethyn Ewing (145.2)
Early preliminary card
Middleweight: Kyle Daukaus (186) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (185.6)
Featherweight: Pat Sabatini (145.6) vs. Chepe Mariscal (145.6)
Women’s Strawweight: Angela Hill (115.6) vs. Fatima Kline (115.4)
Middleweight: Baisangur Susurkaev (185.2) vs. Eric McConico (185.6)
Lightweight: Viacheslav Borshchev (155.8) vs. Matheus Camilo (155.8)
* Dariush weighed in 1.2lbs over the lightweight non-title limit, while stripped down, for his fight with Benoit Saint-Denis. Dariush will forfeit 20% of his fight purse, bout moves forward.
