Australia’s Jack Della Maddalena will look to make the maiden defence of his UFC welterweight title when he faces Islam Makhachev in the main event of UFC 322 at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday, November 15 (Nov. 16 in Australia).
UFC boss Dana White confirmed the news during an Instagram live on Friday, in which he also revealed Zhang Weili would vacate her strawweight title and move up to challenge Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight strap in the co-main event.
Della Maddalena won the title in May via bloody unanimous decision at UFC 315 in Montreal, with his hard-fought victory over Belal Muhammad earning him an 18th straight win.
MORE: Who is fighting at UFC Perth?
The Perth product will look to continue his winning run against the former lightweight champion from Dagestan when he welcomes Makhachev to the 170-pound division.
Makhachev twice defended his lightweight title against JDM’s countryman Alex Volkanovski, first by razor-thin decision, before claiming a head-kick KO in the rematch.
Since then, Makhachev has turned back the challenges of Dustin Poirier and Renato Moicano to cement his reputation as one of the most-feared men in MMA.
The 33-year-old currently sits second behind Ilia Topuria in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings, though the question remains how he will fare making the jump up to welterweight.
Also on the card, former champion Leon Edwards returns to face the all-action Carlos Prates in an intriguing 170-lb affair.
In the same Instagram live, White also confirmed the main card for UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi on October 25.
Headlined by heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall’s first title defence against Ciryl Gane, it will also feature Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern facing off the strawweight title vacated by Weili’s move up to 125-lbs.
