Fight Facts: UFC 315 ‘Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena’

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 8,177
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 732

The Ultimate Fighting Championship took to the second-largest city in Canada to put on quite a show, with mixed results for locals but plenty to get excited about by night’s end. Storylines emerged every which way, including moving night at the flyweight division. UFC 315 featured the third Aussie to claim a UFC crown, a stunning takedown record for 125ers and a Brazilian pile driver who still only fights at one speed.

Oi Oi Oi: By unseating welterweight king Belal Muhammad, Jack Della Maddalena became the third Australian-born champ in company history. He joins Alexander Volkanovski as active champs from the land down under.

A Righteous Scrap: Over the course of their five-round endeavor, Della Maddalena and Muhammad combined to land a whopping 310 significant strikes. Only three 170-pound contests have eclipsed that total, with Vicente Luque and Bryan Barberena’s 332 claiming the top spot.

Punches in All Sorts of Bunches: Della Maddalena connected with 178 sig strikes on the champ. He is one shy of Colby Covington’s welterweight record set against Robbie Lawler in 2019.

He Remembered the Name: The victorious Aussie pushed his win streak to 18 by dethroning the champion. After losing his first two professional outings, Della Maddalena has never looked back. That streak includes 14 stoppages along the way.

Show Some Respect: While he failed to get his hand raised, Muhammad added to his top-10-worthy total by grounding Della Maddalena three times. His total of 46 is now in sole possession of the eighth-most in UFC welterweight history, seven behind Karo Parisyan and Jon Fitch while 41 back from all-time leader Georges St. Pierre.

Not So Boring, Is He: Contrary to popular belief, the “Fight of the Night” bonus earned by “JDM” and Muhammad is not Muhammad’s first. In his UFC debut, he and Alan Jouban collected an extra $50K for their scrap.

Yes Can Defend, Twice: Embarking on her second reign at flyweight, Valentina Shevchenko defended her new belt for the first time by outpointing Manon Fiorot. She is the fourth woman to successfully defend her title on two separate championship runs, joining Rose Namajunas, Amanda Nunes and Weili Zhang.

Champ McChamperson: The championship victory for Shevchenko was her 10th in the UFC. She is the second female fighter to amass this many title wins, and she is one shy of Amanda Nunes for the women’s record. Jon Jones at 16 holds the overall most.

Kyrgyzstan by Way of Peru by Way of Thailand: The victorious Kyrgyzstani added to her UFC flyweight record by prevailing over Fiorot. Her 11 wins are now two more than the next closest fighter, Katlyn Cerminara.

Fans Can Pick the Next One: Shevchenko entered into her 13th match as a 125-pounder. This puts her one behind the lead shared by Cerminara and Andrea Lee.

The Flyweight’s Flyweight: “Bullet” is involved with many of the records in her division. This includes knockdowns, as she dropped Fiorot in the fourth round to earn her second in the weight class. Taila Santos and Ariane Lipski da Silva hold the top spot with three.

A Wrestling Kickboxer: Officially putting Fiorot on her back twice, Shevchenko put further distance between herself and the rest of her weight division. Her 49 takedowns are leagues more than the next closest woman, Miranda Maverick (23).

He’ll Be Back…Again: After a controversial loss to Aiemann Zahabi, Jose Aldo claimed he was retiring again. If this holds true, the legendary Brazilian leaves behind a legacy as one of the greatest fighters of all time, with plenty of records including the most championship wins at featherweight (eight).

Not Natalie: Victorious in her last 13 outings including all seven in the Octagon, Natalia Silva outworked Alexa Grasso to cement herself a top flyweight contender. Her five decisions with the promotion account for all but one in her 25-fight career.

First Gear: Like her opponent, Grasso has been involved with a plethora of decisions in her UFC tenure. The Mexican ex-champ has gone the distance 15 times across 22 pro appearances.

A Bit Obvious: Thrashing Kyle Prepolec on short notice, Benoit St. Denis landed the arm-triangle choke in Round 2. He retained his 100% stoppage rate with the sub.

St. Draftkings: Clocking in as a -1400 betting favorite, St. Denis left little doubt as to who the favored fighter was in the cage. His odds are tied for the widest in the promotion this year with Mansur Abdul Malik against Nick Klein in February.

Proper Knocked Out: While Canadians only went 3-3 on the night on home soil, one of those was Mike Malott, who sparked Charlie Radtke in the second stanza. “Proper Mike” has earned 11 of his 12 pro victories inside the distance.

The Second-Best JJ in the UFC: Jasmine Jasudavicius stamped herself a 125-pound contender when she ran through Jessica Andrade with a speedy rear-naked choke. Her three submission victories in the UFC thus far have all been accompanied by “Performance of the Night” checks.

She Wants 40: Losing by first-round stoppage, Andrade entered into her 29th fight as a member of the UFC roster. She and Angela Hill (27) are the only two ladies with more than 20 Octagon appearances.

The Sword Giveth and the Sword Taketh Away: While “Bate Estaca” maintains the women’s record for the most UFC fights, she is also in the top three for the most defeats with 12—Hill’s 14 are the most. Andrade’s nine stoppage losses are far and away more than any active fighter, with several tied with four.

Scale Hunters: Wrecking an overweight Bruno Silva, Marc-Andre Barriault may have saved his place on the roster with his first-round knockout. The Kill Cliff FC export made heavy fighters a combined 2-9 this year after missing weight.

It’s a Different Sport: Kazakhstan’s Bekzat Almakhan blew the doors off of Brad Katona in 64 seconds to start off the night. “The Turan Warrior” has achieved 11 of his 12 pro wins by stoppage, not counting the several he amassed in the ranks of Zhekpe Zhek, the MMA-adjacent national martial art of his home country.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 315, Della Maddalena had never fought beyond the third round (19 fights), Silva had never been knocked out (35 fights) and Katona had never been finished (18 fights).

Dynamite and Thunder: Both Della Maddalena and Daniel Santos walked out to tracks from AC/DC, with the former picking his trademark “T.N.T.” and the latter selecting “Thunderstruck.” Defying the odds, both men prevailed at night’s end.

Forgot About That Curse: Coming back to the promotion after nearly six years away, Prepolec made the fateful choice of selecting Eminem’s “Till I Collapse” featuring Nate Dogg. It was he who collapsed, figuratively speaking, as he succumbed to a submission in the second stanza to make 11 of the last 12 fighters to pick Eminem tracks lose.