UFC 322 will occur on Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden with Islam Makhachev moving up to welterweight to challenge champion Jack Della Maddalena. Makhachev vacated the 155-pound title after defending it four times and holds a 27-1 record. Della Maddalena, 18-2, captured the welterweight title by defeating Belal Muhammad and has not lost since early career setbacks in 2016. Zhang Weili vacated the 115-pound strawweight title to move up to flyweight and will challenge Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event. ESPN ranks Makhachev and Della Maddalena among the top pound-for-pound fighters.
A pair of UFC superfights will headline the company's annual pay-per-view event in New York. Former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will attempt to win a second title against defending welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 on Nov. 15 in Madison Square Garden, UFC CEO Dana White announced on Thursday. In the co-main event, former strawweight champion Zhang Weili will move up to flyweight to challenge Valentina Shevchenko.
ESPN ranks Makhachev and Della Maddalena as the Nos. 2 and 8 pound-for-pound fighters in the world, respectively. Makhachev defended his lightweight title four times before announcing the move to welterweight. He will attempt to do something his retired, undefeated mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov never did during his Hall of Fame career -- become a two-division champion. Della Maddalena (18-2), of Perth, Australia, hasn't lost since he suffered back-to-back defeats to begin his professional career in 2016.
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