Two championship bouts will get featured billing at UFC
315.
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UFC CEO Dana White announced on Wednesday night that the May 10
card will be headlined by a welterweight championship tilt between
Belal
Muhammad and Jack
Della Maddalena. In the co-main event, Valentina
Shevchenko will defend her flyweight strap against Manon
Fiorot. UFC 315 takes place at the Bell Centre in Montreal,
Quebec, Canada.
While Shavkat
Rakhmonov was expected to be the next title challenger at 170
pounds, White revealed that the Kazakhstan native suffered an
injury and was unable to compete. That led to Della Maddalena being
pulled from his original booking: the UFC
London headliner against Leon
Edwards on March 22.
Muhammad will return to action for the first time since capturing
the welterweight crown with a five-round verdict against Edwards in
the UFC 304 main event this past July. “Remember the Name” is in
the midst of an 11-fight unbeaten streak in the Octagon that dates
back to April 2019.
Della Maddalena has won 17 consecutive professional outings, a
streak that includes seven straight triumphs in UFC competition. In
his lone appearance of 2024, the 28-year-old Aussie scored a
third-round knockout of former title challenger Gilbert
Burns at UFC 299.
Widely regarded as one of the world’s best female pound-for-pound
fighters, Shevchenko regained the flyweight title with a unanimous
decision triumph over Grasso in a trilogy bout at UFC 306. Prior to
losing the belt to Grasso in a massive upset at UFC 285, “Bullet”
had seven consecutive title defenses at 125 pounds.
Fiorot has won 12 straight fights since dropping her professional
debut. The Frenchwoman is 7-0 in the Octagon, with notable triumphs
over the likes of Erin
Blanchfield, Rose
Namajunas, Katlyn
Cerminara and Jennifer
Maia, among others.