Fight Coverage
Coach Conversation | UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena
New England Cartel Leader Tyson Chartier Breaks Down Saturday’s Welterweight Title Fight
Championship fights are layered battles, with the competitors stepping into the Octagon operating at the highest level in their respective weight classes. Breaking down how these pivotal contests could possibly play out is a challenging venture, which is why UFC staff writer E. Spencer Kyte has taken to enlisting the help of some of the sharpest minds in the sport to help dissect these critical contests.
In advance of Saturday’s UFC 315 welterweight title fight between champion Belal Muhammad and challenger Jack Della Maddalena, Kyte called up on Tyson Chartier, head coach of the New England Cartel, to offer up his insights into how this weekend’s main event could play out.
Best Trait of Each Fighter
Kyte: Okay — what’s the best trait of Belal Muhammad and what’s the best trait of Jack Della Maddalena?
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Chartier: For Belal, it’s his commitment to his style.
He goes in there, you know what he’s gonna do — I don’t want to call him a one-trick pony, but you know what he’s gonna do, and he’s so committed to doing it, and he dares you to stop him. The confidence he has in what he brings to the table is second-to-none, and I think that’s what he brings.
With Jack, it’s his boxing, which means on paper, this is a classic “striker versus grappler” matchup.
UFC 315 Countdown | Belal Muhammad vs Jack Della Maddalena
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UFC 315 Countdown | Belal Muhammad vs Jack Della Maddalena
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Kyte: So with Belal, I think back to when we talked about Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov, and when we talked about Merab, it was his conditioning, not the wrestling, because it’s the conditioning that allows him to wrestle the way he does.
I agree with you that Belal is just hellbent on “I’m gonna do me” — and he and I have talked about him staying true to who he is and what he is — but I think it’s the pressure. It’s certainly part of the approach, but whether he’s throwing hands or coming forward, it’s just that he doesn’t go away, ever.
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There is no point — you don’t get any rest. Merab has the conditioning to do what he did in the fight with Umar and it goes the way it went, but there are no points with Belal where he’s kissing his biceps and playing to the crowd; they ring the bell and he’s in your face, suffocating you, drowning you until he’s forced to stop.
And lately, no one has forced him to stop.
Chartier: Yeah, Leon had a little bit of success counter-grappling, but he just seems so mentally strong too.
He comes from a small camp, which I think is a huge benefit. If you have the right team, I really do believe a small camp — there is a lot of upside and you can really dial in and get prepared.
Kyte: And I think Mike (Valle) is really good.
Chartier: He’s a really good coach, and not only that, Belal gets out there and goes to train with Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and those guys, and puts himself in a room where he’s the nail. He goes and he gets beaten up. He loses a lot in camp, I’m sure, and that says something to me about he’s checking his ego in camp, and he’s gonna be able to leverage that in order to go hard during the fights, and he’s shown that.
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He’s gonna bring that pressure and do him for 25 minutes. He doesn’t care if you’re booing; he’s gonna go get his hand raised.
Kyte: With Jack and the boxing — which I agree is the top trait — is there something, to you, about his boxing that differentiates him? For me, I would say it’s that he’s comfortable in both stances, varies the targets, and varies the shots.
Chartier: I like that you mentioned levels because especially against a guy that is going to come forward and try to shoot on you, I think working the body is going to be key; catch him on the way in. If you hit the body and he shoots, you’re gonna hit the head, but if you’re aiming for the head, he’s gonna shoot underneath it and be on your legs. I think that’s gonna be crucial for this fight.
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He works the body really well, and the stance switching can confuse a wrestler, because now he’s got to figure which side to shoot on; you’re working the whole camp shooting on both stances.
Him working the body — especially when we’re talking Belal’s pressure and his cardio — you look at some of these people, like Merab, that’s where he was able to be hurt; you can get him to the body a little bit, slow him down. Even “Chito” (Vera) hurt Sean (O’Malley) a little bit right at the end.
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These guys that work the body — it really is an equalizer. A good body shot is as good as a head shot; you can finish a fight like that, so I think him working the body is gonna be important trying to slow Belal down, but also be your first line of defense for your takedown defense.
Path to Victory
Kyte: So the path to victory for Belal is pretty straightforward — go out and keep being yourself, do what you did to Leon Edwards and everyone else before that.
What’s the path for Jack?
Chartier: I think it starts with what we talked about already — low and long. You’re fighting a wrestler, so you’ve gotta fight low and long, but then I think it’s gonna be the decision-making.
Obviously the path is “keep it on the feet, use your hands, do damage; don’t get taken down.” Keep it on the feet and beat him up. Vary the targets, work the body, play at range, keep it low and long, take the center of the cage, and don’t let him push you back to the fence.
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Kyte: Right, because Belal isn’t necessarily “shooting doubles in the center of the cage” type of guy, which means you can still kick, you can still do some of that stuff, so it’s move, move, move, move, move, and then…
Chartier: Touch, touch, touch.
Kyte: It almost feels too simplistic that that is the way to counter a guy like Belal, but that really is the way to counter that approach. You’ve got to be on your bike as much as he’s coming forward, but you’ve also gotta be effective offensively.
Chartier: You can’t just go into defensive mode like Rose (Namajunas) against Carla (Esparza). Defending the takedowns isn’t winning; you still have to do some damage, so he’s gotta go first and not just wait.
Get on offense, stay low and long, get some touches to the body, and then react to what happens.
Belal Muhammad Goes Down Memory Lane | UFC 315
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Belal Muhammad Goes Down Memory Lane | UFC 315
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X Factor
Kyte: Okay — what, if anything, is the X-factor in this fight?
Chartier: I think the X-factor is gonna be Jack’s decision-making.
I watched a lot of his fights, and he just…
Kyte: He lets himself get into s***** positions!
Chartier: Yeah! You’re 90 percent away, and then you try to go for a whizzer kick instead of just pummeling out, and you get taken down again.
He engages in the grappling in fights where he doesn’t want to grapple. Just don’t engage. Don’t entertain it.
I think in a five-round fight, you have more opportunities to make bad decisions, and against a guy like Belal, you just have to make three bad decisions. So I’m interested to see how he comes out and if he’s able to stay disciplined and resist the urge to take those risks.
Kyte: Make good decisions rather than — he spent two rounds of his fight with Gilbert Burns trying to grapple with Gilbert Burns and then got up and knocked him out.
Chartier: He did the same thing with (Bassil) Hafez — kept going for guillotines, kept trying to take him down, kept pummeling back in; just get away.
Kyte: That was a weird fight timing-wise because he was supposed to fight earlier, and he stuck around, it was short-notice, so I’ll give him grace on that one, but yeah — the best he’s looked is Randy Brown, and in all the other ones, there have been some interesting choices.
One Coaching Curiosity
Kyte: In terms of a curiosity point, what’s the thing you’re looking to see or the question you want answered?
Chartier: I wanna see if Della Maddalena’s takedown defense looks better.
The fight with Hafez, he didn’t have a camp to prepare for that one, and that kid came out and wrestled right away. But then Gilbert Burns, you’re kind of thinking, “Gilbert Burns doesn’t take down anybody; he’s just gonna come out and go,” and then Gilbert Burns shoots on him, takes him down.
What I saw in those fights is that they were able to get their first takedown, right away; it wasn’t a big struggle. His takedown defense was below average. His grappling — his ability to get back to his feet, create scrambles — was good. I know he’s been working with Craig Jones, so he’s gonna have some tricks up his sleeve, so new wrinkles there.
But he’s always been a good grappler in that he’s got good submissions, good ability to get back to his feet, he’s not easy to hold down, but the wrestling has been below average. He’s got UFC newcomers taking him down on their first shot.
You can’t do that with Belal, so I’ll be interested to see if his takedown defense looks improved.
Kyte: Yeah, it’s only 70 percent (according to UFCstats.com), which isn’t great for this level.
For me, I’m going to our tried and true — and I will preface by saying that I don’t necessarily think it’s going to be a factor — but it’s your first main event, it’s a title fight; it’s the first time the pressure and the spotlight are truly on you.
He was supposed to fight in March in a good matchup with Leon (Edwards), and now it’s main event, championship fight, pay-per-view, your face is on the poster. These ones are just different; we saw it with Diego Lopes.
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In those first two rounds, that wasn’t the Diego Lopes we’re used to seeing, and all of a sudden it’s “… and now (Alexander) Volkanovski is up two rounds and we’re pretty much done here.” And like you said, Belal needs three takedowns and he can win the fight.
So I wanna see if any of that stuff impacts him here.
It’s one of those amorphous, ineffable things where you see it and if you know, you know that’s what it is, and with Lopes, everyone I’ve talked to about that fight, that’s what everyone has said is, “It’s just the moment getting to him.”
A lot of people think that can’t be and we’re over-estimating that stuff, but we watched this dude fight for the last three years, where he came out guns blazing trying to kill you in the first 90 seconds, and he didn’t, at all.
Some of that might be making decisions, but…
Chartier: You’re worrying about your cardio, the guy that’s standing across from you in really good…
Kyte: And he was getting into it with Yair (Rodriguez) during the week, bickering, which is all just — there’s no press conference when you’re not fighting on pay-per-view and in a critical fight.
It felt like all the extra things added up to being too much in those early moments. So there is just a lot to it, so we’ll see. Skill-wise, I think he’s a helluva talent — a legit Top 5 guy — but we’ll see.
And we know what we’re getting with Belal; he showed us in Manchester.
Chartier: Yep. It should be fun.
UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena, live from Bell Centre in Montréal, Québec, Canada on May 10, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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