Tonight at UFC 315, a welterweight title fight will take place between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena. At first glance, it may seem unrelated to Armenian fans, but this bout could prove decisive for the near future of the biggest hope in Armenian MMA — Arman Tsarukyan.
Tsarukyan, currently ranked number one in the UFC lightweight division, has long been awaiting his title shot. Let’s recall that on January 19, Arman was supposed to fight Islam Makhachev for the title, but he suffered an injury and had to withdraw. Since then, Arman has been temporarily out of the title picture — and now his fate depends on what happens in other weight classes.
There are two scenarios — and everything depends on the result of Muhammad vs. Della Maddalena:
If Belal Muhammad wins, Makhachev will stay in the lightweight division and face Ilia Topuria at UFC 317. In that case, Arman will likely fight Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje in a title eliminator. If he wins, he’ll earn a second chance at the championship, with nothing standing in his way.
But if Della Maddalena wins, the picture changes dramatically. Makhachev — a close friend of Belal — would move up to welterweight to try and become a double champion by defeating Maddalena. This would leave a vacancy in the lightweight division. Then, Topuria would fight Oliveira for the interim belt at UFC 317, and Tsarukyan, as the top contender, would face the winner. In other words, the road to the title would become shorter, and a title fight could take place later this year — with no extra steps.
In any case, Arman’s future looks bright. However, a victory by Belal Muhammad tonight would simplify the Armenian fighter’s path to the belt: instead of restructuring divisions and interim titles, he’d immediately get a top-level fight — without wasting time.
Event starts at 01:30 / Main card at 05:00 Moscow time.