Fight Coverage
MONTHLY REPORT | MAY 2025
Highlighting The Biggest Performances From Last Month’s Action Inside The Octagon
And just like that, it’s June.
The year is flying by and only going to continue to pick up pace as we move into a hectic month featuring four events, capped by International Fight Week and UFC 317 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Thinking about the upcoming slate and the potential names that could appear in this space next month after stellar performances and big efforts already has me excited about what’s to come, but, admittedly, I tend to feel that way most months because at the end of the day, the men and women that make their way into the Octagon always tend to deliver, giving me plenty to consider when handing out this bushel of imaginary awards each month.
May was no different, as we got a robust slate of candidates to consider in three of the four categories, and a slam-dunk winner in the other.
So without any further adieu, let’s get into it.
Breakout Performance: Jack Della Maddalena (UFC 315)
There were some terrific breakout efforts in May, but, as is often the case, the stakes and circumstances of each effort always carry a great deal of weight in helping decide who gets the nod, and, in this instance, Della Maddalena going from an extended layoff to winning the welterweight title had to be the choice.
Honestly, I don’t think enough was made of what a tremendous achievement this was for the 28-year-old Australian, who claimed the title with scores of 48-47 twice and 49-46 to close out UFC 315 in Montreal. It was his first appearance since UFC 299, where he suffered a broken arm early in the fight, powered through to still win, and then had surgery, only to need a couple different clean-up procedures after the fact.
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Not only did he come back from a 14-month absence and gnarly injury, but he rose to the top of the division by halting the six-fight winning streak and 11-fight unbeaten streak of Belal Muhammad, who had dominated Leon Edwards to win the title and was expected by many to do the same at Bell Centre. Instead, Della Maddalena set the tone straight out of the gate, stuck to his varied and technical approach (with a side order of grit and tenacity), and controlled the vast majority of the fight to become the third Australian and third Dana White’s Contender Series graduate to claim UFC gold.
Think of it this way: everyone agrees that the welterweight division is absolutely humming right now — it may be in the best shape it’s ever been in, top to bottom — but prior to this contest, Della Maddalena wasn’t the first or second name most people would have landed on when asked about the ascending contenders and serious threats in the 170-pound ranks. Not because he’s not talented, but because guys like Shavkat Rakhmonov, Ian Machado Garry, and Sean Brady had all impressed more recently, all earned big wins in the time Della was sidelined, and yet he’s the first of the group to claim championship gold.
He’s expected to face former lightweight champ Islam Makhachev in his first title defense, and my sense is that Makhachev will be a considerable favorite, with most believing he’ll turn the Australian into a transitional champion, to borrow a phrase from professional wrestling.
That could be the case, but the last time everyone was looking beyond Della Maddalena and largely counting him out, he turned in a stellar showing and halted one of the longer unbeaten runs in the UFC.
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Honorable Mentions: Gillian Robertson, Azamat Bekoev, Reinier de Ridder, Bekzat Almakhan, Michael Morales
Submission of the Month: Jasmine Jasudavicius submits Jessica Andrade (UFC 315)
“The Canadian Bulldog” just keeps rolling along.
Positioned against former strawweight queen and flyweight title challenger Jessica Andrade, Jasudavicius marched into Montreal and claimed her place in the Top 10 by handing Andrade the quickest submission loss of her career. The 36-year-old closed the distance, got the Brazilian to the canvas, and wrapped up the finish in just over half-a-round, giving her a pair of wins in the first half of 2025 and five consecutive victories overall.
UFC 316 FREE FIGHTS: Pena vs Nunes | Dvalishvili vs Nurmagomdeov | Harrison vs Holm | O'Malley vs Sterling
There is always a tendency to play the “yeah, but…” game whenever a perennial contender starts to slide, as Andrade has done of late, but it’s such a flawed way to look at things. Yes, she’s only 2-5 in his last seven outings, which have been split between two divisions, but look at who she’s faced during that stretch: Erin Blanchfield, Yan Xiaonan, Tatiana Suarez, Mackenzie Dern, Marina Rodriguez, Natalia Silva, and now Jasudavicius.
That’s a top contender, two former title challengers, a pair of Top 10 mainstays that she beat, the current No. 1 contender in the flyweight division, who is 7-0 in the UFC, and the Niagara Top Team representative.
This wasn’t Andrade slipping — this was Jasudavicius continuing to elevate her game as she’s been doing throughout her UFC tenure and especially since her decision loss to Tracy Cortez at Noche UFC in 2023. She’s leaned into her grimy, aggressive nature, shown more intensity and punishing intent once she gets opponents to the canvas, and has used her long limbs to lace up submission wins in three of her last five outings to rise to No. 6 in the flyweight rankings.
She’s the highest ranked Canadian on the roster at the moment and the emotional heartbeat of the group of Canucks currently making a quality push in the UFC. Another marquee assignment against someone stationed ahead of her in the rankings is in order after her performance in Montreal, and if the plan is to come out west for a Fight Night event later in the year, it might be the right time for Jasudavicius to earn her first main event assignment.
Honorable Mentions: Quang Le vs. Gaston Bolanos, Luana Santos vs. Thainara Lisboa, Yadier Del Valle vs. Connor Matthews, HyunSung Park vs. Carlos Hernandez, Jordan Leavitt vs. Kurt Holobaugh, Ramiz Brahimaj vs. Billy Ray Goff
Knockout of the Month: Bekzat Almakhan stops Brad Katona (UFC 315)
This was the hardest choice to make this month, as you could certainly make a compelling case for going with Reinier de Ridder’s second-round stoppage win over Bo Nickal, Marc-Andre Barriault’s vicious elbow finish of Bruno Silva, or Mike Malott setting the crowd alight at Bell Centre when he knocked out Charles Radtke, not to mention Jared Gordon’s clubbing right hand against Thiago Moises; all viable options, all genuinely impressive efforts.
But I went with Almakhan’s first-round knockout of Katona in Montreal for a couple reasons.
First, it was just so pretty and well read. If you go back and watch the fight, you’ll see that Almakhan got Katona’s timing and rhythm down almost immediately, and was instantly lighting him up on the feet. Less than a minute into the fight, Katona drops his level and Almakhan hits him with a clean right uppercut, drawing a “nice uppercut” from Daniel Cormier on the broadcast. The finish came less than 20 seconds later on the exact same entry, read, and reaction.
The second reason I tabbed this finish as the top knockout of the month is because Almakhan feels like one of those off-the-radar cats that people should really be paying close attention to in the ultra-competitive bantamweight ranks. This was just his second appearance in the UFC and they opened the show at Bell Centre, but remember, Almakhan buzzed Umar Nurmagomedov in his short-notice promotional debut, forcing the recent title challenger to be more grappling-heavy than he traditionally is, which tells you the kind of upside the “Turan Warrior” brings to the Octagon.
This was an outstanding read and expertly executed finish, and I have a feeling it will be far from the last time we hear from Almakhan in this space.
Honorable Mentions: de Ridder vs. Bo Nickal, Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Bruno Silva, Mike Malott vs. Charles Radtke, Jared Gordon vs. Thiago Moises, Dustin Jacoby vs. Bruno Lopes
Fight of the Month: Aiemann Zahabi vs. Jose Aldo (UFC 315)
It wasn’t my intention to select exclusively from the pay-per-view show in Montreal when I was handing out the hardware this month, but there was no question that this was the top fight in May, which gave UFC 315 a clean sweep of the awards.
As Zahabi said when I spoke to him in the aftermath of his rallying win at home, the stakes of this one just kept getting ratcheted up more and more for him leading up to and then during the fight. Not only was he fighting in his hometown for the first time in the UFC, but he was doing so against a certified legend, one who was considerably off the mark ahead of weigh-ins, resulting in the bout being shifted to the featherweight division.
Order UFC 316: Dvalishvili vs O'Malley 2
Once the action began, it was sharp and competitive through the first two rounds, Aldo winning the first with his superior speed as Zahabi tried to get a read on him, and the French-Canadian taking the second after finding his rhythm late in the first. Deadlocked at one, Aldo came out gunning to start the third, hurting Zahabi and dropping him multiple times, prompting the streaking local product to retreat to space.
But when he planted his feet and fired back, Aldo stopped coming forward and took a long, exaggerated look up at the clock, which showed he still had a long way to go before the final horn sounded. Zahabi didn’t see the Brazilian gazing upwards, as he was too busy coming forward, looking to land.
Eventually, he put Aldo on his back in the center of the cage, punishing him with heavy elbows and steady ground-and-pound through to the end of the fight.
When the scores were collected and totalled, it was Zahabi that emerged triumphant, pushing his winning streak to six, with Aldo officially announcing he was walking away for good after the contest.
BREAKING: Updates To UFC 316
This was a tremendously entertaining fight with several shifts in momentum, and the clear fight for the month of May in the UFC.
Honorable Mentions: Melquizael Costa vs. Julian Erosa
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