Khabib Nurmagomedov: Islam Makhachev vs. Jack Della Maddalena Booked at UFC 322 in November at Madison Square Garden
There have been rumblings that Islam Makhachev and Jack Della Maddalena would have their long awaited clash in the world’s most famous arena and Khabib Nurmagomedov has confirmed as much on his end. The mentor of Makhachev was recently in a live Q&A context and when asked about the timeline as well as location for his charge’s bid to become a two division UFC champion, Nurmagomedov mentioned how he thinks that here in New York City would be the welterweight title spot.
UFC 322 in November at Madison Square Garden marks the company’s annual foray into the big apple and a JDM-Makhachev bout as an MSG headliner would make sense for this magnitude of an annual tentpole event. Nurmagomedov joked that the former lightweight champion’s manager Ali Abdelaziz was upset because he gave information but playfully said that Makhachev deals with UFC and that Nurmagomedov does not have to himself.
In footage initially recorded by The Cornell Combat Sports Show and later shared to Champ RDS on X, Nurmagomedov said,
“We have deal with them. [Islam] gonna fight in Madison Square Garden. They said yes.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov also gives details on a big pFL rematch
Khabib Nurmagomedov was steadily breaking news at this recent speaking engagement when he hinted at a massive rematch being targeted for the PFL Smart Cage. His cousin and PFL’s lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov had a barnburner bout with Paul Hughes back in January with many calling it the best fight in the history of the company and running it back for a rematch is something that ardent PFL fans have steadily been calling for.
The former UFC lightweight champion gave some details as to how things were looking for Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Paul Hughes 2 and that fans can even expect it in two months’ time as Nurmagomedov stated [via talk SPORT],
“Usman, he is a hell of a fighter. He’s fighting on October 4 in Dubai, with the same guy he fought with last time. It was a hard fight, and now we’re going to see how he deals with the rematch.”
