UFC 322 results, takeaways: Islam Makhachev, Valentina Shevchenko earn their places in history at MSG

A wild string of knockouts and a pair of dominant title wins highlighted an eventful UFC 322 card on Saturday from Madison Square Garden in New York.

Islam Makhachev became a two-division champion and utilized a dominant grappling game to take the welterweight title in the main event from Jack Della Maddalena. Wrestling was the name of the game in the co-headliner, too, as Valentina Shevchenko defended her women’s flyweight title against former two-time strawweight queen Weili Zhang. 

Let’s take a closer look at the biggest takeaways from an action-packed night, which included a wild brawl in the crowd before the pay-per-view main card began. 

1. Islam Makhachev just might be the greatest fighter in his star-studded camp

That, of course, would be saying a lot, especially since Makhachev (28-1) trains with unbeaten former lightweight champion and Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov and his two cousins with the same surnames, unbeaten PFL champion Usman and talented UFC 135-pound contender Umar. All four fighters were originally trained since they were children by Khabib’s late father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. But it has gotten to the point where Makhachev’s accomplishments might be enough to surpass Khabib’s perfect 9-0 record. Makhachev, already the record holder for the most UFC lightweight title defenses with four, became the 11th two-division champion in promotional history on Saturday (which Khabib never did) while tying Anderson Silva for the company record of consecutive wins at 16. And in his first fight at 170 pounds in Saturday’s main event, he completely neutralized Della Maddalena’s respected boxing skills before taking him down in all five rounds and dominating him from top position the rest of the way. Was it overly exciting? No. In fact, huge chunks of the crowd were leaving early in Round 5. But the fight played out the way it did because Makhachev wanted it that way as he made an overwhelmingly loud statement to the rest of UFC’s deepest division.

2. A little bit of MSG magic was fun while it lasted

Even though UFC has been coming to “The World’s Most Famous Arena” every November since 2016 for one of the most-anticipated annual pay-per-view cards, it has become difficult for fans and media who were in the building for the first two (UFC 205 in 2016 and UFC 217 in 2017) not to always compare what happens next to the past. Maybe it was because UFC 205 and 217 came directly after the state of New York had finally changed its dinosaur law of MMA being deemed illegal that the two cards are so nostalgically memorable. Or maybe it’s simply due to the fact that both cards, like UFC 322, were absolutely loaded from top to bottom and produced nothing but jaw-dropping moments along the way. There was a bit of that old-time feeling in the air on Saturday, particularly during a four-fight stretch of devastating knockouts, which began with Bo Nickal’s knockout of Rodolfo Viera in the featured prelim, which served as the final bout before the PPV main card began. Immediately after Nickal’s high-kick finish, an insane brawl in the crowd broke out involving former Conor McGregor jiu-jitsu coach Dillon Danis and a handful of UFC fighters, all of whom were part of Makhachev’s extended team. The action spilled out into the area surrounding the Octagon before security and police were able to finally cool down the tension. That intoxicating feeling that anything can happen next, which was only fueled by the succession of quick knockouts, came to a stunning halt once the two title bouts began, both of which featured one-sided performances due to the dominant grappling of Makhachev and Shevchenko, sucked the energy out of the building.   

3. Valentina Shevchenko is starting to make the women’s GOAT debate difficult

In what might go down as the signature victory of her incredible career against a two-time former strawweight champion in and fellow future Hall of Famer in Zhang, Shevchenko brought a swift end to any pound-for-pound debate with such a dominant performance. Zhang landed a hard right cross shortly after the first round began and was essentially never in the fight again. With the win Shevchenko moved into first place all alone for the most combined title defenses (nine) and the most title wins (10) in UFC women’s history. The fact that she is 0-2 in bantamweight bouts against Amanda Nunes, the two-division champion who is considered to be the greatest female fighter in the sport’s history, makes it difficult to compare Shevchenko to her greatest rival. But that 0-2 record doesn’t tell the complete story as Shevchenko ran out of time in Round 3 as she was battering an exhausted Nunes at UFC 196 in 2016. And many critics still believe she deserved to have beaten Nunes in their 2017 title rematch that Shevchenko lost via disputed split decision. Shevchenko, who turned pro in 2003 before all of her contemporaries (including Cris Cyborg) is still on top of her game and somehow getting better at 37. She has also found new ways to compete with Nunes from a statistical and accomplishment standpoint, especially by staying so busy and dominant in the aftermath of Nunes’ 2023 retirement. Shevchenko may end up getting a third shot at Nunes should the legend officially decide to make a comeback in 2026. “Bullet” has also been called out by current bantamweight` champion Kayla Harrison, which brings in the potential shot of Shevchenko becoming a two-division champion. Either way, Shevchenko isn’t slowing down anytime soon and the GOAT discussion is starting to get interesting. 

4. The welterweight division is the best thing going in MMA

Even with Makhachev’s 170-pound title win in the main event lacking the fireworks that many expected, can we talk about how insane the two welterweight bouts were to kick off the main card? In a pair of top-10 ranked matchups (and virtual betting pick ’ems) between fighters firmly within title contention, Carlos Prates and Michael Morales demanded title shots after brutal knockouts of former champion Leon Edwards and No. 2-ranked Sean Brady, respectively. Considering Ian Machado Garry still has time to impress UFC matchmakers next Saturday when he fights Belal Muhammad in the co-main event in Qatar, this division might end up even giving us something as electric as Prates-Morales next, for all we know. And that doesn’t even include what to do with former champion and P4P king Kamaru Usman still lingering, as is unbeaten Shavkat Rahmanov, who finally appears set to return from an 11-month layoff due to injury. UFC matchmakers were smart to pair a trio of fights this important to the division that remains the strongest from No. 1-10 in the promotion. And a pair of fun prospects-turned-contenders just made things a whole lot more complicated in all of the very good ways. 

5. The closer Benoit Saint Denis gets to Ilia Topuria, the better

Written off by some following a pair of stoppage losses in 2024 to Dustin Poirier and Renato Moicano, both in which he absorbed a ton of damage, the French-born Saint Denis appears to be completely rebuilt. He scored his third straight stoppage victory on Saturday to open the PPV main card against battle-tested veteran Beneil Dariush. And it took the “God of War” surviving a rough start in the opening seconds in order to open up the one-punch knockout he ultimately delivered. BSD may have entered the fight merely ranked No. 13 but that should change early next week. Lightweight champion Ilia Topuria seemed to spend UFC 322 focused on criticizing Makhachev’s win by calling him “boring” on social media after the main event. But he better make sure he also realizes how much momentum the 29-year-old Saint Denis has. That fight, not to mention the possibility of a Topuria title defense against Arman Tsarukyan, are the very definition of must-see TV. Saint Denis surely isn’t perfect, but he’s starting to figure it out fast and isn’t afraid to give himself every possible chance of winning, no matter the physical costs.