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<\/a><\/p>\nINGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 18: Islam Makhachev of Russia reacts after a submission victory against Renato Moicano of Brazil in the UFC lightweight championship fight during the UFC 311 event at Intuit Dome on January 18, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n
Paths to victory for Islam Makhachev at UFC 322<\/p>\n
Already with a claim to being the greatest lightweight of all time, Makhachev now looks to cement himself as one of the 10 greatest fighters ever by joining the champ-champ ranks, but he\u2019s got a tough row to hoe to get there.<\/p>\n
Though he hails from Dagestan, and as such is perceived as a grappler, the strength of Makhachev\u2019s game is in his well-roundedness. Yes, he is a dynamic wrestler and grappler, but those parts of his game are enhanced by his timing on the feet, striking defense, and clinch offense, which are in turn elevated by his grappling. It\u2019s a cohesive game, with all the parts working together in a brutally efficient harmony.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the strategy on Saturday will primarily revolve around taking advantage of his grappling opportunities. While Makhachev can compete on the feet with Della Maddalena, staying there opens him up to danger. And JDM has previously shown some dangerous tendencies in the grappling phase, specifically in giving up his neck as he tries to scramble up.<\/p>\n
For Makhachev, the plan is straightforward: win the pressure battle. While Makhachev is not the best at pressuring footwork, he can do it, and though Muhammad lost to Della Maddalena, it was not for lack of getting to his spot. JDM is not exceptionally fleet of foot, and Makhachev can force his way into clinches, where his diversity of attacks can make problems for Della Maddalena. From there, it\u2019s all about getting back control or working a front headlock series, opening Della Maddalena frequently gives up.<\/p>\n
Unlike the co-main event, this fight feels pretty simple as far as the dynamic goes: Della Maddalena wants to keep it standing, Makhachev wants to get it to the floor. But there are a few questions that will either determine which of those things happen, or shift the axis of the fight entirely.<\/p>\n
How does Makhachev look at 170? Though he\u2019s an enormous lightweight, 15 pounds is still 15 pounds. Even with Makhachev putting on weight, he\u2019s probably the smaller person. And how does putting on that weight affect him anyway? As a general rule in MMA, striking moves up easier than grappling does, and even though JDM isn\u2019t a huge welterweight, it\u2019s still a concern.How much better with Della Maddalena be? JDM is only 29 years old. There is no question that Saturday night will be the best version of Della Maddalena that we\u2019ve ever seen. In contrast, Islam Makhachev just turned 34. That\u2019s not old, but it\u2019s past the point where you expect huge gains. Is he far enough ahead to still be better than JDM on Saturday, or will the new champion make a leap?<\/p>\n
As I\u2019ve broken down this fight, I\u2019ve fluctuated from being very confident in this pick to having no confidence whatsoever, but my pick has never changed: I believe Islam Makhachev is going to win.<\/p>\n
At the heart of it, I believe Makhachev is a much better fighter than Belal Muhammad, and while Muhammad lost, that fight was competitive, and he wasn\u2019t fighting smart. Makhachev always fights smart and has many more tools than Belal does. He\u2019s the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport for a reason, and despite his sensational performance against Muhammad, I\u2019ve seen too many warning signs from Della Maddalena to trust him on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Islam Makhachev def. Jack Della Maddalena via submission (d\u2019Arce choke) \u2014 3:45, Round 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC 322 takes place this Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City, headlined by Islam Makhachev…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-285186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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