UFC CEO Dana White rolled out one of his famous fight announcement waves Thursday as the final events of 2025 continue to fill out.
Title fights and marquee matchups for numbered events through November now are official, with White announcing three new title contests, including arguably the most meaningful women’s fight in company history.
White confirmed five new matchups overall, with UFC 321 on Oct. 25 in Abu Dhabi adding Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern for the vacant strawweight title and Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista; UFC 322 on Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York set with Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev for welterweight gold, Valentina Shevchenko vs. Zhang Weili for the women’s flyweight title and Leon Edwards vs. Carlos Prates.
Although each bout has its own layer of intrigue, the anticipation around each matchup can’t realistically be made equal. So which of the highly significant new bookings is best? MMA Junkie senior reporter Mike Bohn attempts to rank them.
5. Virna Jandiroba vs. Mackenzie Dern, UFC 321
One of these fights had to find itself at the bottom of the rankings, and although it’s not a bad one by any stretch, the bottom seed goes to Virna Jandiroba (22-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) vs. Mackenzie Dern (15-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC), who will meet for the vacant strawweight title with Zhang Weili’s move up to women’s flyweight.
The upside of UFC booking these two together is that we never saw either of them lose to Weili, so the hangover effect of a dominant champion’s departure doesn’t hit quite as hard. The winner should be calling for Weili to come back down regardless of what happens in her own matchup a few weeks later, because if not, it’s hard to tell what Jandiroba vs. Dern is leading to in this division.
4. Leon Edwards vs. Carlos Prates, UFC 322
Carlos Prates (22-7 MMA, 5-1 UFC) got what he asked for in the form of a matchup with former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards (22-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC), and it will happen on the biggest stage on the undercard of when the divisional title is being contested.
Neither man could ask for much better than this. Prates has quickly become a beloved figure with his personality and finish-heavy fighting style. Edwards badly needs to steal some of that love for himself after allowing his title reign to be ended by Belal Muhammad then being finished for the first time in MMA against Sean Brady in March.
Edwards should get the type of striking fight he wants against Prates. If he can do something spectacular he will right back to relevance. If he drops a third-straight, though, many questions will surround “Rocky” and his future. That’s high stakes material.
3. Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista, UFC 321
Umar Nurmagomedov (18-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) probably expected to be defending the bantamweight title for the first time in this spot in Abu Dhabi, but instead he looks to rebound from his first loss to Merab Dvalishvili in January against perhaps the division’s most underrated force in Mario Bautista (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC).
It’s an amazing opportunity for Bautista, who despite having an up-and-down relationship with the fanbase, continues to land significant fights, then wins them. Is he on the level of Nurmagomedov, though, who more than held his own against Dvalishvili in their title fight before a hand injury that required surgery derailed him.
We never got to see Khabib Nurmagomedov taste defeat and witness how he would subsequently handle it. It’s happened for Umar, however, and now we find out what his fighting spirit truly looks like after a rare moment of adversity for his family.
2. Valentina Shevchenko vs. Zhang Weili, UFC 322
Women’s MMA haters might not like the ranking of this fight, but come on? There are probably less than a handful of fights on that side of the sport that can stir up legitimate excitement for what is possible inside the octagon, and Valentina Shevchenko (25-4-1 MMA, 14-3-1 UFC) vs. Zhang Weili (26-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) is one of them.
It’s unfortunately not going to be just the second champion-vs-champion fight in women’s UFC history, because Weili will vacate the strap and Jandiroba vs. Dern will crown a new queen just a few weeks prior. Nevertheless, that takes nothing away from the combination of championship experience, skill and stakes that are involved in this.
UFC has Shevchenko at No. 1 and Weili at No. 2 in its official women’s pound-for-pound rankings. It’s extremely seldom that a fight between people occupying those spots can realistically be made, so this rare moment should not be discounted or under appreciated.
1. Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev, UFC 322
Of all the fights White revealed, this one was probably the most widely expected and known, but that didn’t take anything away from it actually being announced with the image of Jack Della Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) and Islam Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) side-by-side on a poster.
Much of the focus entering will be on Makhachev, and rightfully so. He can become the 12th fighter in UFC history to claim titles in two weight classes, and if his hand is raised, he will tie Anderson Silva for the longest winning streak in company history at 16 consecutive bouts, a record that has stood alone since 2013. That all stacks on top of the intrigue in seeing how his size and skillset translates at 170 pounds.
Makhachev acknowledged it will be no rollover, either, as Della Maddalena is on an 18-fight winning streak in his own right. If he parlays his title win over Muhammad in May into a first defense against Makhachev in November, there’s going to be some serious conversations about his pound-for-pound placement. Fights like this are why I cover the sport.
