NEW YORK — Islam Makhachev showed up to fight last week with a black right eye, a seemingly difficult weight cut and his usual dominance.
On the heels of what he called “the toughest camp” of his life to move up to welterweight, the 34-year-old Dagestani captured the crown of a second weight class, defeating Jack Della Maddalena by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to win the welterweight title. He became the 11th fighter to win UFC championships in multiple divisions and tied Anderson Silva’s record of 16 consecutive victories.
Australia’s Della Maddalena gave Makhachev the biggest size disadvantage of his career, but the extra inch didn’t make an ounce of difference in the cage.
Each round largely followed the same pattern: two minutes of Makhachev’s forward pressure on the feet, a desperate strike from Della Maddalena, then a cage slam that left the champion staring at the Madison Square Garden jumbotron until the horn sounded.
These standing exchanges were where Della Maddalena was supposed to threaten Makhachev’s dominance. But instead, the man who gave Makhachev the black eye in training camp found more success on the feet than Della Maddalena ever had. In the third round, Makhachev nearly connected with the same hook headbutt combo he used to knock out Della Maddalena’s mentor, Alexander Volkanovski, in 2023. The kick narrowly missed, but the feeling came through: Makhachev’s game is only evolving and the rest of the sport has no answers.
The decision victory is only the second time this decade that a Makhachev fight did not end in a knockout or tapout. And unless a new contender at welterweight, or any weight, solves the Makhachev mystery, Dagestan’s reign appears to have no end.
“This is the dream,” he said to close the evening, with championship belts wrapped around each shoulder.
“All my opponents know it, and no one can stop it,” he said before leaving the elevated octagon and grabbing a bottle of water from a table of reporters on his way out.
