Two championships will be on the line when the UFC heads to Montreal on May 10.
Belal Muhammad (24-3) will defend the welterweight championship against Jack Della Maddalena (17-2) in the main event of UFC 315, and women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will put her title on the line against Manon Fiorot in the co-main event of the fight card that will take place at the Bell Centre.
Muhammad was originally slated to make his first title defense against top contender Shavkat Rakhmonov in December. However, a bone infection in his foot forced Muhammad out of the fight. The plan was for the bout to be rescheduled for the first half of 2025, but Rakhmonov has been dealing with a lingering injury and will not be available for May. In his place will be Della Maddalena, who had been slated to face former welterweight champion Leon Edwards at UFC Fight Night in London on March 22. But with Rakhmonov unavailable, the Australian fighter was pulled and will now get his first opportunity at UFC gold. Sean Brady will step in for Della Maddalena to face Edwards in March.
Muhammad has not lost a fight in six years and is coming off a one-sided decision win over Edwards to win the 170-pound championship in July. He will look to end Della Maddalena’s 17-fight winning streak.
Shevchenko (29-4-1) reclaimed the strawweight championship by defeating Alexa Grasso in September. ESPN’s No. 2 women’s pound-for-pound fighter avenged the only submission loss of her career and will now look to begin a second run as flyweight champion. “Bullet” successfully defended the championship seven times during her first run as champion and will kick off her second tenure against a slick striker who will look to match Shevchenko in the standup.
Fighting out of France, Fiorot (12-1) made her UFC debut in January 2021 with a knockout of Victoria Leonardo and hasn’t looked back since, running her current winning streak to 12 with wins over Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield. The UFC’s No. 2-ranked women’s flyweight will get her first crack at gold against one of the best to ever do it.
Also announced for UFC 315 were:
• Former women’s flyweight champion Grasso will look to bounce back from the Shevchenko loss when she faces Natalia Silva.
• Former welterweight title contender Gilbert Burns will look to stop the surging Michael Morales in a showdown between 170-pound fighters jockeying for position in the championship pecking order.
UFC 315 will mark the promotion’s first event in Montreal in 10 years.