UFC 322 live: Makhachev vs Della Maddalena fight start time, undercard results and updates tonight

We’ve already had a few fights enter the books – here’s everything that’s gone down so far:

Kyle Daukaus def. Gerald Meerschaert via first-round submission (D’Arce choke, 0:50)

Pat Sabatini def. Chepe Mariscal by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Fatima Kline def. Angela Hill by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Baisangur Susurkaev def. Eric McConico by third-round knockout (punches, 1:38)

Matheus Camilo def. Viacheslav Borshchev by unanimous decision (30-27, 20-27, 29-28)

Good afternoon, good evening or good morning – welcome to the UFC 322 prelims!

We’ve got one hell of a night of fights lined up for you, culminating with the imperious Islam Makhachev’s bid to become a two-weight champion against welterweight king Jack Della Maddalena.

But to whet the appetite, we have four prelim bouts on the way. They are:

Bo Nickal vs Rodolfo Vieira (middleweight)

Roman Kopylov vs Gregory Rodrigues (middleweight)

Erin Blanchfield vs Tracy Cortez (women’s flyweight)

Malcolm Wellmaker vs Ethyn Ewing (featherweight)

Okay, time to leave you in the capable hands of Will Castle!

He’ll give you a round-up of the early-prelim results in a few moments, before diving into regular-prelim updates.

It all builds towards a stacked main card later, including two title fights…

Here are Della Maddalena and Makhachev’s last five results, respectively:

def. Belal Muhammad via decision (May ‘25)

def. Gilbert Burns via 1st-round TKO (March ‘24)

def. Kevin Holland via decision (Sep ‘23)

def. Bassil Hafez via decision (July ‘23)

def. Randy Brown via 1st-round sub (Feb ‘23)

def. Renato Moicano via 1st-round sub (Jan ‘25)

def. Dustin Poirier via 5th-round sub (June ‘24)

def. Alex Volkanovski via 1st-round KO (Oct ‘23)

def. Alex Volkanovski via decision (Feb ‘23)

def. Charles Oliveira via 2nd-round sub (Oct ‘22)

However, Della Maddalena took to the scales much later in the morning, and when he did, the Australian came in at 170.4lb.

But after removing his shorts and weighing in behind a curtain, the champion was listed at 169.8lb.

When Jack Della Maddalena stopped Ramazan Emeev in June 2022, he passed what he described as the “Dagestani wrestler test”. Tonight, he faces the Islam Makhachev test – the final boss of Dagestani wrestler tests.

To call this bout make-or-break for the Australian’s career would be hyperbole; only a select class of fighters can call themselves world champions. But if he punctures Makhechev’s mystique at Madison Square Garden, sending him packing back to 155lb, “JDM” could become the three hottest letters in the UFC.

Our own Will Castle, who will be taking over our live coverage when the regular prelims begin, chatted to one of “JDM”’s former opponents ahead of tonight’s main event.

Danny Roberts faced Della Maddalena three years ago to the month, falling to a first-round knockout by the now-champ.

“It was amazing to get in there, and I knew from the second we started throwing hard: ‘This is a good kid,’” the Briton told The Independent.

“You know your levels. I’ve had X amount of fights in the UFC, I know what it is when I get in there with someone – I know their level, their skillset, their potential – and I knew he was going to be great.”

In the UK, UFC 322 will air live on TNT Sports 1. It can also be purchased via Discovery+, EE TV, Virgin Media, Amazon Prime Video, and Sky Sports. The prelims will also stream live on UFC Fight Pass.

In the US, ESPN+ will stream the main card on pay-per-view. ESPN+ will also stream the prelims to its subscribers, as will UFC Fight Pass.

In a bid to be as prepared as possible for his clash with the Australian, who has not lost in nine years, Makhachev broke his training into three distinct sections.

“I did like three camps,” the Russian, who is unbeaten in 10 years, told the Weighing In podcast on Monday. “One of them in Russia, one of them in Dubai, and the last one in New Jersey.

“First camp, I just focused [on doing] weights, to gain weight. I did like three weeks’ camp. After that, we moved to Dubai, and we did a lot of sparring, wrestling, more conditioning, you know?

“Now we’re in New Jersey, and I have my sparring partner who can do similar [techniques] to JDM.”

Della Maddalena – 21/10; Makhachev – 4/11

Shevchenko – 20/21; Zhang – 5/6

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