Dana White loves to go online and just drop bombs on fans in form of fight announcements. He gave some of them, especially focusing on UFC 322, where two title fights shape up a brilliant fight card. However, there is a weird trend. It’s not UFC’s fault, but it’s quite intriguing.
The main event is Jack Della Maddalena defending his title vs. Islam Makhachev, who is moving up a weight class after vacating the 155 belt. Also, Zhang Weili is also moving up as she’ll vacate the strawweight title to challenge Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight belt.
The trend? Well, first of all the two challengers are moving up from a weight class below so that is something worth noting. However, what it’s really strange is the fact that both defending champions are the underdogs according to Vegas’ odds. It’s not usual for challengers to be favorites, but especially when the two of them are moving out of their own division.
Makhachev is understandable, but Zhang?
Makhachev is somewhat understandable. In the end, he was always big for the lightweight division, he is the No.2 in the pound-for-pound rankings, hasn’t lost since 2015, rides a 15-fight win streak. Also, Della Maddalena is not that big of a name and hasn’t defended his belt. Still, it might be seen as a bit disrespectful but it’s still within the confines of logic. Makhachev is a -245 favorite to JDM’s +200 odds.
Islam Makhachev of Russia looks on prior to his lightweight title fight during UFC 311
The Zhang Weili vs. Valentina Shevchenko odds, however, are very close yet the Chinese is still favored. This one is more shocking. Shevchenko is widely regarded as a top 3 women MMA fighter of all time. She has eight title defenses, is one of the more complete fighters on the roster and has done way too much to get doubted like this.
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Yes, Weili is a future Hall of Famer herself, but she’s been knocked out before and has been chinny before, getting hurt plenty of times. Weili is amazing, but making her favorite over Shevchenko is wild. Weili is -121 to beat Shevchenko, who is at +101.
What other fights got announced?
Dana White also announced former welterweight champion Leon Edwards will test rising contender Carlos Prates. This fight will also take place at the UFC 322 event.
White also announced a couple of fights for UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi. Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern will fight for the vacant strawweight championship. Also on that card, Umar Nurmagomedov makes his awaited return to fight against Mario Bautista, who just derailed Patchy Mix’s hype train. This card will be headlined by Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane as the British fighter makes his first heavyweight title defense.
