Makhachev claims UFC welterweight belt with dominant win over Della Maddalena

NEW YORK (Agencies): Islam Makhachev out-classed Jack Della Maddalena in a five-round beat-down to claim a unanimous decision victory and win the UFC welterweight championship at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, with Valentina Shevchenko retaining her flyweight title in the co-main event. Makhachev made light of stepping up a weight class after relinquishing the lightweight crown to chase a new challenge, utterly dominating his Australian opponent for 25 minutes with his smothering grappling to claim his 16th UFC victory in a row. The 34-year-old softened up his 29-year-old adversary with calf kicks before launching a relentless wrestling attack and Della Maddalena had no answer, getting stuck on the mat dealing with submission threats under tremendous pressure for long periods. “This is my plan. It’s not a secret, all my opponents know this, and nobody can stop it,” Makhachev said before calling for his first title defence to be at the proposed event on the White House lawn in 2026. All three judges scored the contest 50-45 as Makhachev became the 11th fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two different weight classes. In the co-headliner, Zhang Weili’s dream of joining that group came up short as the wily Shevchenko out-pointed her in another dominant performance to retain the flyweight crown. The 37-year-old from Krygyzstan displayed her full array of skills, sniping at her Chinese opponent and hurting her with punishing kicks to the body, and taking her to the mat and controlling her whenever she felt in danger, winning all five rounds on the judges’ scorecards to retain the title. “I was preparing for this fight as the hardest challenge in my life,” Shevchenko said in the cage after her customary victory dance. “This is what I call the art of martial arts. When they are here in front of me, they cannot do anything.”