UFC 322 Prediction: Jack Della Maddalena vs Islam Makhachev (15.11.2025)

UFC 322: Della Maddalena vs. Makhachev (branded as VeChain UFC 322 for sponsorship reasons) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on November 15, 2025, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States.

The event will mark the promotion’s 12th visit to New York City and first since UFC 309 in November 2024.

A UFC Welterweight Championship bout between current champion Jack Della Maddalena and former UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev is scheduled to headline the event. Makhachev vacated his lightweight title in May in order to move up to welterweight.

After being scheduled to face the higher-ranked Leon Edwards in London 2 months earlier, Della Maddalena entered his welterweight title fight against Belal Muhammad in May as a significant underdog.

After 5 rounds in which he outperformed Muhammad in striking exchanges and landed 200 total strikes, Della Maddalena was crowned the new king of Dana White’s welterweight division at UFC 315.

The 29-year-old Australian showcased exceptional takedown defense against the elite grappler to earn a unanimous decision win and received widespread praise from the MMA fights world.

He now faces an even tougher opponent in Islam Makhachev, the former UFC No. 1 pound-for-pound (P4P) fighter, widely regarded as one of the best mixed martial artists in the world.

The Dagestani star holds a professional MMA record of 27–1 and is currently riding a 15-fight winning streak.

Recent videos circulating online show Makhachev looking noticeably bigger, highlighting the size he has added during what he has described as the toughest training camp of his career.

It’s hard to see this finishing early due to J. Della Maddalena’s strong takedown defence and durability. He kept pushing Belal Mohamaad in all 5 rounds displaying his great cardio.

Islam already struggled while facing a champion from another division as he had fought Alexander Volkanovski and was awarded a close decision in their first bout.

Now Islam is moving one category above and barely fought any opponents that looked bigger than him. Although Islam is a slight favorite, top bookmakers suggest this fight is likely to go past the 2nd round.

Former UFC Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards is facing the biggest challenge of his career. For the first time he finds himself in a hole and now has 2 fights losing streak.

The Englishman lost his belt versus Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (47-48, 47-48, 46-49) back in 2024. He was unable to find a way to stop opponents takedowns and Belal had a whopping 12 minutes of control time in the fight.

‘The Rocky’’ returned this year in March to face welterweight prospect Sean Brady. For the first time in his pro MMA career Leon was finished. S.Brady completed an early takedown in the 4th round next to the fence, ended up on top and finished the former champion with a guillotine.

Once again it was clear that L.Edwards has problems with elite wrestlers, although he did great versus Kamaru Usman in the past.

Carlos Prates made a lot of noise since joining UFC with his flashy and early knockouts. The Brazilian signed with the promotion back in 2023 after his impressive performance in the DWCS (Dana White’s Contender Series). Since then he went on 4 fight winning streak while finishing 2 opponents in the 1st and 2 in the 2nd rounds.

After a fight between Ian Garry and Shavkat Rakhmanov broke off, Carlos Prates stepped in to face the Irishman in April, 2025. I.Garry dominated 4 rounds while controlling the range and landing more shots with a better accuracy.

But in the last round he almost made a vital mistake and was taken down which nearly ended with C.Prates finishing him. Despite all that, I.Garry was awarded a unanimous decision and ended his opponent’s winning streak.

C.Prates returned to the action quickly to face UFC veteran Geoff Neal. Both men exchanged hard punches and combinations, but just before the bell C.Prates landed a spinning back elbow and returned to the victory column.

Although the Brazilian is the favorite to win this one, according to MMA betting sites, it would be a huge surprise if he does it early. The Rocky was finished in the octagon only once and only in the 4th round. He has faced wrestlers in his past 5 bouts and now finally has a chance to face a striker.

We are expecting to see more than 1 round with the slight advantage going to the C.Prates

Sean Brady is back in the top of the rankings after 3 fights winning streak and now currently is #2 ranked welterweight. The American suffered his first professional MMA defeat back in October, 2022 to Belal Muhammad who later became divisions champion.

Since then S.Brady looked invincible and managed to get a finish in his 2 out of 3 fights .He submitted UFC long timer Kelvin Gastelum with a kimura in the 4th round. Next, S.Brady was unable to put Gilbert Burns to sleep, but dominated on the ground and on the feet, winning all rounds.

He started 2025 with an impressive win versus former UFC Welterweight Champion Leon ‘The Rocky’ Edwards and became the first fighter to finish him in the octagon.

His Saturday opponent Michael Morales is a true MMA prodigy. The 26-year old is undefeated in his pro career and now has a record of 6 wins and 0 losses in the UFC.

The Ecuadorian was signed after a winning performance in the DWCS (Dana White’s Contender Series) and made his name in the UFC debut after a first round TKO finish of Trevin Giles.

In his last fight he fought former UFC #1 ranked welterweight Gilbert ‘’’Durinho’’ Burns and made the things look really easy. M.Morales pressed and dropped his opponent early and finished him in 3:39 minutes. The Brazilian landed a takedown, but M.Morales got up quickly and started throwing combinations backing his opponent to the fence, where he eventually got finished.

In his short UFC run Michael Morales already showed a decent ground game and defence. With 72% of the wins coming in a way of knockout, we can expect Sean Brady attempting one takedown after another, since on paper the striking advantage belongs to his opponent.

S.Brady fought multiple strikers already and was able to annihilate their game. Although he did put up a decent streak of finishes, 50% of his pro MMA wins are by decision and to finish M.Morales in only 3 rounds is likely a task that is too hard.