Jack Della Maddalena defeated Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision to capture the UFC welterweight championship in the UFC 315 main event Saturday night at Bell Centre in Montreal.
The judges scored the fight 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46 in Della Maddalena's favor.
Della Maddalena's sharp striking, distance management, and takedown defense guided him to a hard-fought victory. He outstruck Muhammad in all five rounds and fended off six of nine takedown attempts, keeping the fight almost entirely on the feet.
"It's exactly how I thought it would feel," Della Maddalena said in his postfight interview after becoming the new champion. "It feels f-----g good."
He added: "Coming in there against someone like Belal with that sort of pressure and wrestling, I knew I had to be smart. I couldn't spend too much time on my back."
Della Maddalena put an exclamation mark on his performance in the fifth round, outslugging Muhammad and bloodying him with hard punches. Della Maddalena said he tried to score a late knockout and gave Muhammad kudos for being tough to finish.
"I looked up at the clock and saw 30 seconds left," Della Maddalena said. "I thought I was ahead, but I wanted to keep pushing. I wanted to take him out of there. I was gunning for a late finish. But Belal is the man. He's a tough dude. He's not easy to put away."
Della Maddalena, who entered the fight as the No. 5-ranked welterweight, wasn't expected to get the next title shot until three months ago. He was originally scheduled to face Leon Edwards at UFC London in March, but the promotion placed him in the title fight against Muhammad instead when Shavkat Rakhmonov was unavailable because of an injury.
Della Maddalena outlanded Muhammad 200-155 in total strikes and 178-132 in significant strikes. He held Muhammad, one of the best wrestlers in the division, to just 3:21 of control time. Muhammad didn't secure his first takedown until the fourth round, and by then, it was too late for him to overcome Della Maddalena's edge in the stand-up department.
Della Maddalena lifted his UFC record to 8-0 and extended his winning streak to 18 overall. He's the third Australian-born champion in UFC history after Robert Whittaker and Alexander Volkanovski.
UFC CEO Dana White suggested earlier this week that lightweight champion Islam Makhachev would move up to welterweight to challenge for a second title if Della Maddalena were to beat Muhammad at UFC 315. In his postfight interview Saturday, Della Maddalena said he'd be more than happy to take on the Dagestani.
"It's a beautiful challenge," Della Maddalena said. "He's pound-for-pound No. 1. I'm gonna get him back for Volk."
Makhachev wrote on X that it's "time to become a double champion." He added that he will show Della Maddalena a "different level" and asked the new welterweight champion to "keep my belt clean."
Muhammad lost for the first time since January 2019, ending his 11-fight unbeaten streak. He was making his first title defense since dethroning Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July.
