MMA Junkie's Fight of the Month for May: Jack Della Maddalena takes Belal Muhammad's belt
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.
Nominee: Daniel Santos def. Jeong Yeong Lee at UFC 315
Daniel Santos and Jeong Yeong Lee produced three solid rounds of action in the featherweight division, busting each other's faces up over the course of 15 minutes as the contest flowed on both the feet and the ground.
Advertisement
After three rounds, Santos (12-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) was awarded the unanimous decision win over Lee (11-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) with 30-27 scorecards across the board, which was a credit to Lee's toughness.
Nominee: Aiemann Zahabi def. Jose Aldo at UFC 315
Aiemann Zahabi went to war with Jose Aldo in what turned out to be the UFC Hall of Famer's final fight before retirement.
After a strong start by the former UFC champion, Zahabi (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) survived a scare and turned the tables on Aldo (32-10 MMA, 14-9 UFC) to win a competitive unanimous decision, extending his winning streak to six fights and marking the end of Aldo's legendary career.
Nominee: Melquizael Costa def. Julian Erosa at UFC Fight Night 256
Melquizael Costa and Julian Erosa were immediately transported to a hospital after their hard-fought battle in the featherweight division.
Advertisement
Costa (24-7 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and Erosa (31-12 MMA, 9-8 UFC) put on a gruelling three-round scrap, and as a result, both men received an additional $50,000 for Fight of the Night honors. In the end, Costa was awarded the unanimous decision victory after enduring a late swarm from Erosa.
Nominee: Alice Ardelean def. Rayanne dos Santos at UFC on ESPN 68
Alice Ardelean got her first UFC win when she outworked the favored Rayanne dos Santos to get her hand raised and snap of eight-month skid women getting Fight of the Night honors.
Ardelean (10-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC) pulled off a unanimous decision over dos Santos (14-9 MMA, 0-3 UFC) in the curtain jerker on the prelim in the strawweight division. Dos Santos was more than a 2-1 favorite in the fight, but Ardelean pulled off the upset.
The winner: Jack Della Maddalena def. Belal Muhammad at UFC 315
The UFC's welterweight division has a new king, and his name is Jack Della Maddalena.
Advertisement
Incoming champion Belal Muhammad entered the fight seeking his first title defense, but would run into a stiff challenge in the form of a highly confident Della Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC). The welterweight title fight served as the main event of UFC 315 at Bell Centre in Montreal. After the final horn sounded, Della Maddalena was declared the new champion unanimously with 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46 scores over Muhammad (24-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC).
Della Maddalena came forward early, putting pressure on the champ as he landed combinations while the crowd chanted in his favor. After studying his opponent's movements, Muhammad began to open up his offense. Della Maddalena appeared very comfortable on his feet, and grew in confidence after stopping Muhammad's first takedown attempt.
Striking exchanges unfolded early in Round 2, with both fighters connecting with clean offerings. Della Maddalena found a home for a hard right hand that turned Muhammad's head, but the champ ate it and continued to come forward. Della Maddalena stifled another takedown attempt, but Muhammad landed nicely on the exit. Still feeling good, Della Maddalena had some fun with a few spinning strikes in the closing seconds of the round.
Advertisement
A beautiful combination from Della Maddalena started Round 3. As the round progressed, Muhammad chased the challenger all over the octagon, but was met with quick jabs and the occasional two-punch combo. It wasn't all one-way traffic, but Muhammad was unable to land anything of significance to change the tone of the fight.
In the fourth round, Muhammad dedicated himself to more takedown attempts. The champ pushed forward with urgency, looking to get the fight to the ground. This caused a few heated exchanges, but it was clearly Muhammad's best round, even though he was on the receiving end of a share of clean strikes.
With just five minutes to go and the fight on Della Maddalena's side, Muhammad turned up the pressure more than before. This created some heated moments of hard striking exchanges, where it seemed like the fight could end at any moment. Muhammad was finally able to complete a takedown with over three minutes to work. After landing some ground and pound, Della Maddalena exploded back to his feet and resumed landing sharp strikes, putting Muhammad on wobbly legs.
Della Maddalena went for a takedown but was reversed, allowing Muhammad to get off some more offense on the ground momentarily. However, the fight would return to standing, where Della Maddalena would close out his championship-winning performance by pressing on the gas until the final horn.
Cast Your Vote!
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Fight of the Month, May 2025: Della Maddalena batters Belal Muhammad
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
TKO Group Gains After Guggenheim Lifts Price Target on UFC Media Deal
TKO Group Holdings (TKO, Financials) rose Tuesday after Guggenheim increased its price target to $205 from $200, citing the financial impact of a new UFC media rights agreement with Paramount. The target hike came the same day the stock closed at $186.02, up 10.13% over the past week. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with TKO. The seven-year deal, set to begin in 2026, will see all UFC numbered events and Fight Nights stream on Paramount+, with select events simulcast on CBS. The agreement carries an annual average value of $1.1 billion, including standard escalators, and grants roughly two minutes of advertising inventory per hour for each event. Guggenheim's Curry Baker raised the firm's 2026 UFC media rights forecast to $920 million from $890 million, while increasing OIBDA estimates by $30 million. The firm noted that cash payments are weighted toward later years in the contract. The deal prompted other analyst actions. Wolfe Research boosted its target to $211, BofA Securities to $210, and Goldman Sachs to $202, all maintaining Buy ratings. UBS kept its Buy rating with a $164 target, while Morgan Stanley reiterated Equalweight at $165. Analysts pointed to higher expected free cash flow, expanded distribution, and stronger long-term fundamentals. With both its WWE and UFC contracts renewed, TKO is positioned to focus on execution, new combat sports opportunities, and potential capital returns. Investors will be watching revenue recognition timing and operational synergies from the updated agreements. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
USA Today
39 minutes ago
- USA Today
Video: 'UFC 319: Du Plessis vs. Chimaev' media day live stream (12:15 p.m. ET)
CHICAGO – UFC 319 takes place Saturday at United Center with a main card that airs on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+. Before fight night arrives, though, notable athletes from the main card, including headliners Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev who meet for the middleweight bout, and preliminary lineup are scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday at media day, and MMA Junkie will have a live stream beginning at 12:15 p.m. ET/9:15 a.m. PT, which is 11:15 a.m. local time in Chicago. If you happen to miss any of the individual sessions on the live stream, check below for the archived videos of each media day. XX Rodrigo Sezinando Alibi Idiris Joseph Morales Kai Asakura Tim Elliott Michael Page Jared Cannonier Carlos Prates Geoff Neal Aaron Pico Lerone Murphy Khamzat Chimaev Dricus Du Plessis
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
A dramatic shift for the UFC, plus results on a Burrow vs. Mahomes poll
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Make your Venmo private today. A cage fight is happening behind your TV screens, over the world of combat sports. It's directly related to the future of sports broadcasting in general. Streamers like Amazon, Apple and Netflix are rights holders now. This isn't fringe. These are NFL-level rights holders. Meanwhile, ESPN is molting into something new, too. Advertisement This point in sports business makes Paramount's deal for UFC — every broadcast of it — captivating. Gone are the pay-per-views that fueled UFC from a wily background player into a fringe mainstream product. Now, $7.7 billion later, every UFC event will be on Paramount+ and/or CBS. The deal, frankly, shocked me. Two points before we get some outside analysis: Local sports media ace Andrew Marchand wrote a great column about this yesterday, and I asked him about the move at this juncture in UFC's history: 'The Paramount deal will make UFC more mainstream than ever before. A barrier for casual fans is pay-per-view that cost $80 per night. That's an effort and a serious dent to the wallet. Now, many of the biggest events will be on CBS, while anyone with Paramount+ can just watch the fights for $60 per year with commercials. Meanwhile, TKO, UFC's owners, receive more than double what ESPN was paying them at $1.1 billion per year. All and all, leaving it is hard to see it not as a win.' I also asked Mark Puleo, our in-house combat sports writer, how the news struck UFC's closest watchers: 'It felt like a throwback in the best way. Dana White built the UFC by being brash and innovative. Moving away from the archaic PPV model felt like the risk-taking UFC of old, and I think that's great for the sport. With ESPN, the UFC's event schedule became a bloated monstrosity, rolling out near-weekly cards full of names that hardly mattered. With the PPV model dead, and the allure of 'marquee' events being broadcast on CBS, could we be returning to the days of the regularly stacked, must-watched cards? And what would that mean for the never-ending angst over fighter pay? Those are the impacts waiting to be seen.' The new deal starts next year — and a potential July 4 card at the White House will be part of the deal. Let's keep moving: Ohtani, agent target of lawsuit Two real estate developers have sued Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo, alleging that Balelo had them fired from a $240 million housing venture in Hawaii. The developers claim they had been working on the project for over a decade, and sought Ohtani's involvement for marketing purposes. Ohtani's representation fiercely denies the allegation. See more in our full report. Advertisement Mateer calls Venmo descriptions 'inside jokes' Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer denied betting on sports after screenshots emerged this week of Mateer sending money on Venmo to someone in November 2022 with the caption 'Sports betting.' In a statement yesterday, Mateer claimed these were inside jokes between friends. Just set all your Venmo transactions to private, kids. Read Mateer's full explanation here. More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. I expressed surprise yesterday at Joe Burrow's near-consensus inclusion as T-QB1 in the NFL according to Mike Sando's QB Tiers poll. Burrow is a superstar, yes, but Mahomes is still on pace to possibly be the most accomplished quarterback in NFL history. Most of you agreed with that general understanding, with the large majority saying you'd take Mahomes over Burrow if you're building a team from scratch. But that's not a 90-10 margin … 65-35 isn't the blowout I expected it to be. That's a lot of love for Burrow. Two thoughts here: Still, here's my favorite Mahomes quote: 'Criticizing him is like walking into the Sistine Chapel and saying, 'I like Michelangelo's drawings, but his sense of color is off,'' a defensive coach with AFC West experience told Mike. I just hope these two get to play each other in the playoffs again. Almost done: 📺 LLBWS: Puerto Rico vs. Latin America 1 p.m. ET on ESPN Consider this listing a placeholder, as the official Little League Baseball World Series starts this afternoon and runs through the 7 p.m. ET window on ESPN. I'll be watching for funny kid intros. Enjoy the change of pace tonight. 📺 WNBA: Liberty at Aces 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN A banger game between the past two WNBA champs, who are jockeying for playoff position. Plenty more storylines in our latest Power Rankings. Advertisement 📺 MLB: Dodgers at Angels 9:30 p.m. ET on MLB Network Shohei Ohtani is pitching against his old team on the road here in what has been an intriguing L.A. series this year. The Angels, somehow, are 5-0 against the NL West-leading Dodgers this year. Fascinating. Oh and the Angels turned a triple-play last night: Get tickets to games like these here. The next story in our stalking series: on the woman who has stalked former NFL superstar Aaron Donald for years, and a bigger question about the burden of protection in these cases. Make time for this today. Terrifying stuff. I thought Dennis Lin's story about Padres closer Robert Suarez tipping pitches — and the tech battle behind the notion — was great. Read it here. The Premier League season starts Friday, so you should read our predictions file. We'll have plenty more on Friday, too. The Little-League bat flip that made it all the way to a courtroom has now become a collectible pin. What a story. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The haunting opener to our athlete stalking series this week. Most-read on the website yesterday: ☝️ Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
