UFC 315 is now one for the books and we were treated to an interesting night of fights. In the main event, Jack Della Maddalena upset the odds to capture the UFC welterweight title, putting on a phenomenal display against Belal Muhammad. In the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko handed Manon Fiorot her first UFC loss over 25 minutes.
Elsewhere, Jose Aldo seemingly hung up the gloves and his MMA shorts (for the second time) after a loss to Aiemann Zahabi. Natalia Silva dominated former champion, Alexa Grasso and Benoit st Denis defeated late notice opponent, Kyle Prepolec.
We play matchmaker after UFC 315 for some of the big winners from Canada.
UFC 315 – Who Faces Who Next?
Jack Della Maddalena
The new king of the 170lbs division. The world is JDM’s oyster as there are plenty of options for the Aussie killer. Not many backed him against Muhammad but he showed amazing takedown defence, his typical slick boxing and very intelligent ring generalship.
There are two main options for the Scrappy MMA product. The seemingly next fight for him comes in the form of lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev. The Russian is on a run of 15 unbeaten, including four straight title defences. The issue with the Makhachev fight is that he’s yet to clear out the division. He’s yet to face Justin Gaethje or Arman Tsarukyan. More importantly, however, he hasn’t faced the undefeated featherweight champion turned lightweight, Ilia Topuria. It’s the fight we all want. It’s the fight we need. It’s the fight that should happen at lightweight.
The next option is Shavkat Rakhmonov. The undefeated Kazakh had a title shot lined up against the then-champion, Muhammad. It wasn’t Nomad who had to pull out of that one, it was Muhammad. So, logically, he deserves the next shot at the belt. It would provide both champion and challenger a puzzle that they haven’t seen before and could provide fireworks in the squared circle.
Belal Muhammad
No one can accuse Muhammad of being boring anymore. In a potential fight of the year, Muhammad pieced up Maddalena more than we’ve ever seen. He proved once again that he has a granite chin and fans will certainly tune in to watch him fight again.
What’s next for Muhammad, though? Ian Garry makes a lot of sense. The Irishman was the backup at UFC 315, so he’s very close to a title shot. He needs ‘that’ signature win, and Muhammad would mark that statement for Garry… if he can get his hand raised.
If the champ doesn’t face Rakhmonov and does face Makhachev, a #1 contender fight makes sense. Re-make the UFC 310 main event, without the belt on the line, of course.
Valentina Shevchenko/Natalia Silva
This one sorts itself out, doesn’t it? Shevchenko made the first defence of her second reign as flyweight queen and has all but cleared out the division. There is only one logical contender, Natalia Silva.
The Brazilian is enjoying a 13 fight winning run, including wins over former champions Alexa Grasso and Jessica Andrade in her last two bouts. It’s time she got her shot.
If not, book a super fight between Shevchenko and Weili Zhang. It’s a fight that makes sense at this point in each woman’s career and with Shevchenko 37 and Zhang 35, we don’t want to be asking ‘what if’.
Zahabi vs Rob Font
Zahabi continued his good run of form with a win over the former featherweight king, Jose Aldo. It was an extremely close fight but it was the Canadian who got his hand raised. Rob Font is a good next fight for Zahabi. Both veterans of the game, both coming to the end of their careers and both willing to put it all out there to get the win whenever they step in there.
Benoit St Denis
BSD returned to winning ways after dropping two straight with a comprehensive victory at UFC 315. Granted, it was against a short-notice opponent and with his former opponent, Joel Alvarez, announcing a move up in weight, that one won’t be re-booked.
He called out Gamer, Mateusz Gamrot after the fight, however, he’s booked. A guaranteed war against Dan Hooker could be on the cards, something no fan would turn down.
There are plenty of fun fights to make after UFC 315 and we’ll be lucky to get just a couple of the ones mentioned above.
