UFC 315 preview roundtable: 5 burning questions about the fate of multiple champions

Yahoo

08-05-2025

It's been a decade since the Octagon was dropped into the Bell Centre in Montreal, and this time — with the welterweight title fight between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena — we'll find out the fate of two divisions.
It's also the return of the queen herself, Valentina Shevchenko, who makes her first title defense in her second reign against Manon Fiorot, and legend Jose Aldo makes the walk for the 23rd time in his storied UFC career.
Advertisement
Here are the burning questions ahead of UFC 315.
A lot rides on Belal Muhammad's performance Saturday night. (Photo by Richard Sellers/PA Images via Getty Images)
(Richard Sellers - PA Images via Getty Images)
1. UFC's return to Montreal is a big card in terms of stakes. How would you stack up this PPV with what we've seen in 2025?
Petesy: I think a lot of people expected the worst when the UFC announced it would be hosting a PPV in Montreal, but I think it's really interesting, especially because the fate of two divisions will be determined from the main event.
I loved Merab Dvalishvili and Jiri Prochazka at UFC 311, but the late withdrawal of Arman Tsarukyan really took some of the sheen of it. Although Weili Zhang's performance at 312 was great, the two back-to-back decisions made it a long night for European fans in the top two fights. UFC 313 was widely panned, and 314 was the best of the year so far for me, so I'd put it right up there with that.
Advertisement
There you go, Chuck. You want a headline. How about 'UFC 315 — card of the year!' And people say I'm a pessimist, what a crock of sh …
Chuck: What you're describing is a natural escalation of excitement on this year's UFC PPV schedule, Petesy. Each one is better than the last (with the exception of UFC 313, which should be scrubbed from the brainpan). By UFC 323 at the end of the year, we'll be talking about the Card of the Century, and my guess is it'll be headlined by Paddy Pimblett.
I like UFC 315 for the same reasons. There is a matchmaking conundrum in this fight card, with Jack Della Maddalena playing the spoiler role. Should he realize his dream and become the UFC's welterweight champion, a few things would happen: A) Australia will once again emerge as a hotbed for MMA, B) Belal Muhammad will instantaneously find himself three fights away from the nearest title (just where the UFC wants him), and C) Islam Makhachev will be seen packing his duffel bag for a trek up to 170 pounds.
That's some serious subplot!
2. Does UFC 315 feel bigger given that a very special guest (Islam Makhachev) is standing by, waiting to see if his next opponent comes out of it?
Chuck: Touched on this recently (actually, it was a few words ago, just above), but now that we're getting close to the fight it feels like a real thing. Nobody is making a move without some resolution from UFC 315. Islam doesn't know what he's doing, therefore Ilia Topuria doesn't know, therefore ... (go down the list).
Advertisement
I might've mentioned this before, but I'll do it again here for posterity — this could all be a ploy masterminded by Belal's friend, Islam, to generate a true rooting interest in this weekend's main event. Belal doesn't traditionally bring a rabid fanbase, yet now that he controls the fate of Islam's movements, that all changes.
Here's what I think, Petesy: Islam is doing his boy a solid by drawing attention to his first big title defense. Just a theory, just a theory.
Petesy: A conspiracy is more like it. But honestly, this subplot has made this event, I think it's the most interesting thing about the card. The cheek of this pound-for-pound great Makhachev picking and choosing who he fights — disgraceful!
Kinda has me thinking, though — is he the most powerful fighter on the UFC roster right now? I feel like Jon Jones has been usurped ever since Dana White said Islam was the pound-for-pound king, interesting that it came in the midst of the contract negotiations for the Tom Aspinall fight, but alas, I've made my point.
3. What would UFC prefer: "JDM" winning the title and Makhachev moving up to face him, or Muhammad retaining and Makhachev defending against Ilia Topuria?
Petesy: You won't find a bigger JDM fan in the media room than me, Chuck, but let me tell you something — he must be sacrificed for the greater good of the sport, and the sport needs Islam vs. Ilia or Aspinall vs. Jones.
Advertisement
In my first reply, I said that this might be my favorite fight card of the year so far, but I can safely say that any card with either of those bouts at the top of it would automatically usurp it. They could stack the main card with failed Contender Series candidates, and I'd still feel the same way.
So please, JDM, take this one for the team. You're good enough to get another shot down the line. If not for me … do it for the noble sport of MMA.
Chuck: If this weekend's UFC form holds true, Della Maddalena has a fantastic chance of destroying all the best-laid plans. We just watched Bo Nickal get thundered by Reinier de Ridder in Des Moines, Iowa, ruining most of tomorrow's parties for a surging commodity. Before that it was Carlos Prates who could've spring-boarded into title talks with a win over Ian Machado Garry.
What I'm saying is, we rarely get exactly what we want or expect in the fight game. This is a sport of detours. Just when you think you know the direction of the traffic, somebody comes along and sends you over the pass. In this case, Della Maddalena can become a kind of Rolly Romero figure by declaring the Ilia-Islam superfight DOA. Not that that's his goal.
Advertisement
His goal is to win and let the chips fall where they may.
4. She's been quietly dominant, but is Manon Fiorot a legit threat to overthrow the queen, Valentina Shevchenko?
Chuck: Listen, when the UFC booked Fiorot into that fight with Erin Blanchfield in Atlantic City, I felt a little bad for her. She had just been given a homecoming in Paris in her previous fight (against Rose Namajunas), and she basked in the glow of her countrymen in victory … only to get sent to a booze-soaked Boardwalk lousy with Jersey accents? Where everyone would be rooting for New Jersey's own, Blanchfield?
Well, we saw what she did. Cold-blooded stuff. Shut Blanchfield down. Rendered her helpless by the end of the first round. Spun her off into an existential crisis, as Blanchfield had never thought she'd need a Plan B. In short, she snatched a piece of Blanchfield's soul along with the zero.
Advertisement
Can she do that to Shevchenko? (No, seriously, I'm asking you because I don't know).
Petesy: I feel I've learned my lesson from the Grasso series and therefore the answer to this question is no. Don't see it. Am I confident about that? No, I'm not. However, when Valentina shows up on Ariel Helwani's show next Monday, I don't want to be covered in the shroud of guilt that I was last time around as she's telling the world that they should feel stupid for picking against her.
You know what? I did feel stupid. Maybe I am stupid. But not stupid enough to fall into the same trap again, Chuck.
Put the gaff on 'Bullet.'
5. What's the one fight you guarantee will deliver Saturday night in Montreal?
Petesy: I would've said Benoit Saint Denis — my jilted pick for 2024's Breakout Fighter of the Year (welp) — versus the second-best Spanish fighter on the planet, Joel Alvarez, but my boy Joel has withdrawn. I gotta say, you asking this question has me doubting my whole 'best card of the year so far' take, so hopefully people don't read this far.
Advertisement
Seriously though, hypothetical gun to your head, would you say the main and co-main of this card definitely deliver? It would be quite a dilemma. That's why I'm picking Jose Aldo vs. Aiemann Zahabi.
Thanks for crushing my previous optimism with your final question, mate!
Chuck: That should be a fun fight. Man, Jose Aldo. Hard to believe the swing bout features a guy who came out as a picture of invincibility in front of 55,000 strong just down the road in Toronto at UFC 129 some 14 years ago.
I'll go with the Charlie Radtke vs. Mike Malott fight. Radtke goes in there set on destruction mode, and Malott is fighting in front of his country faithful. My guess is this adds up to something wild. And you know they will be sloshing around in whatever blood that Jasmine Jasudavicius just spilled (poor Jessica Andrade), so it'll seem twice as nasty.