Officially speaking, Islam Makhachev and Zhang Weili no longer reign as titleholders in their respective weight classes.
But for all intents and purposes, Makhachev’s challenge of welterweight king Jack Della Maddalena and Zhang’s opportunity to dethrone flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko are champion vs. champion superfights atop a stacked-to-the-rafters UFC 322 on Saturday night.
“This is the biggest fight in my life, biggest test,” Makhachev told reporters this week. “I’m in New York, in Madison Square Garden. It’s going to be [my] hardest test, but I’m ready.”
Makhachev (27-1, 18 finishes), from the Russian MMA hotbed of Dagestan, rides a 15-fight win streak that took a wrecking ball to the lightweight division, capped by a 155-pound record four consecutive title defenses — three in a row via finish.
