5 takeaways from UFC 315: Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena

The UFC hit Montreal last night for the first time in a decade. The pay-per-view produced by the promotion was a memorable one.

UFC 315: Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena saw one title change, one champion retain their crown, and the retirement of a true legend.

With plenty to discuss, then, this event will likely produce some talking points for a while.

Here are five takeaways from UFC 315: Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena.

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#5. Could Bezkat Almakhan follow in the footsteps of Arman Tsarukyan?

Back in 2019, the UFC were struggling to find an opponent willing to take on top-rated lightweight prospect Islam Makhachev.

In the end, a largely unknown fighter named Arman Tsarukyan agreed to face him, and shocked fans by pushing Makhachev to his limit in a losing effort. Six years on, the bout is still arguably the toughest test Makhachev's faced in his career.

Why is this tale notable after last night's event? Because of the opening fight, which saw Bekzat Almakhan spark out the veteran Brad Katona in just over a minute with a vicious combination.

Like Tsarukyan, Almakhan came into the UFC on short notice. And like Tsarukyan, he found himself matched with a dangerous prospect nobody wanted to face, in this instance Umar Nurmagomedov. To complete the comparison, he also surprised everyone by pushing Nurmagomedov hard en route to a narrow defeat.

Will Almakhan follow in Tsarukyan's footsteps by climbing into contention? The bantamweight division is stacked full of talent, but dispatching Katona - who had previously never been stopped - is a good start.

Overall, then, 'The Turan Warrior' got last night off with a bang, and probably should've claimed a $50k bonus, too.

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#4. Natalia Silva won big, but didn't sell herself as a title contender

UFC 315's main card saw flyweight prospect Natalia Silva pick up the biggest win of her career to date. She outpointed former champion Alexa Grasso, extending her winning streak to 13 bouts.

The chances are that come next week, when the promotion's official rankings are updated, Silva will usurp Grasso's No.1 spot. But will that be enough to net her a title shot?

Unfortunately for the Brazilian, that's debatable. The idea that fighters at the highest level should be able to finish all of their opponents is obviously a fallacy, and so to criticise Silva for failing to stop Grasso would be unfair.

Unfortunately, it is fair to say that while Silva won, the fight was easily the most forgettable on the main card, as she basically channelled Frankie Edgar by picking Grasso apart from the outside, taking very few risks.

Given that she doesn't exactly have a marketable personality either, then, it'll be hard for Dana White and company to sell Silva as a big-time title challenger.

While this win was a huge one for her, then, it may not lead to the destination she'd have hoped for.

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#3. Jose Aldo went out with a bang, but needs to stay retired this time

When UFC 315's weigh-in took place on Friday, the most concerning moment surrounded former featherweight champ Jose Aldo.

Booked for a bantamweight clash with Aiemann Zahabi, Aldo looked terrible on the scale, and the bout was switched to a 145-pound one, ensuring the fight could still go ahead.

To be fair to Aldo, in the end, he put on a stirring performance even in losing.

He took the fight to Zahabi, smacked him around in the first round with his trademark combinations and even came close to a third round finish after dropping the Canadian.

In the end, though, Zahabi survived, and Aldo simply ran out of steam. He ended the fight in bottom position, being hammered by elbows that busted him wide open. It was enough to win Zahabi a decision.

After the fight, Aldo announced his retirement from MMA - the second time he'd done so in his UFC career.

Last time he hung up his gloves, he'd taken a beating from Merab Dvalishvili in 2022, only to return last year. Given he's gone 1-2 since, it's clear that carrying on further will only damage his legacy.

Therefore, it's imperative that Aldo remains retired this time, and hopefully his family and teammates can encourage him to do this. This bout was a fine way for him to go out, but he has nothing left to prove now.

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#2. Valentina Shevchenko showed why she's still the UFC's most dominant champion

UFC 315's co-headliner turned out to be business as usual for Valentina Shevchenko.

The reigning flyweight queen, at the start of her second reign as champion, brushed aside the challenge of Manon Fiorot to claim her eighth successful defense in total.

Fiorot didn't fight badly at all. 'The Beast' did well to take Shevchenko down in the second round, and even landed nearly as many significant strikes as 'The Bullet'.

However, the French kickboxer always seemed one step behind, and when Shevchenko was announced as the winner, it was hardly a surprise.

The big questions now, then, are who is next for Shevchenko, and whether she's the most dominant champion in the UFC overall.

To answer the first question, Natalia Silva is likely to top the flyweight rankings next week, but Dana White and company may decide to run with a champ vs. champ bout with strawweight queen Weili Zhang instead.

In terms of the second question, though, it's hard to argue against Shevchenko. Putting Alexa Grasso's short title reign aside, 'The Bullet' has dominated her division since 2018, and has largely swatted all of her contenders. Even her loss to Grasso came after a rare, glaring error.

Whether this domination can move her ahead of Amanda Nunes in the overall pantheon in female MMA is debatable, but right now, she's at worst a strong number two.

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#1. In a game of pressure, Jack Della Maddalena came out on top

Going into UFC 315's headline bout, the welterweight title clash between champ Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena, the general consensus was that the winner would be the man who could turn up the most heat.

Given Muhammad had used his high-pressure style to wilt Leon Edwards in their title bout last year, many observers expected him to come out on top.

That wasn't the case, though. For the first three rounds of the bout, 'JDM' simply pushed a pace that Muhammad just couldn't deal with.

'Remember the Name' never managed to close the Australian down, and instead found himself hammered by combinations from a constantly moving target.

The champ did threaten a comeback in the later rounds - turning the bout into a really memorable gutter-war - but a knee to the head that split Muhammad's face open in the fifth basically cemented the win.

Given he wasn't the official top contender coming into the bout, Della Maddalena is a surprising champion, and he has a huge list of dangerous contenders chasing him.

Based on this, though, he'll stand a chance of beating any of them. He was the first fighter in a long time to out-pressure Muhammad, and from here, the sky is the limit.