The UFC 315 main event was considered boring by many during the buildup. But as it turns out, the Bell Center Arena was trembling when Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena collided in the center of the Octagon in the main event of the evening! It was a spectacle, entertaining from start to finish, and that kind of war doesn’t happen without leaving multiple grueling scars.

Fans expected the fight to be all about the defending champion showing off his grappling prowess from the start. But instead, he didn’t shy away from using his ‘Canelo Hands’ early on, and looked pretty decent throwing combinations. However, the Aussie’s crisp boxing, slick head movement, and the way he mixed in those teep kicks looked sharper than his opponent’s. All the rounds were great, but in Round 5, things got downright brutal. 

Around the 3:45 mark, ‘JDM’ and ‘Remember The Name’ went into a savage exchange, and the Aussie landed a knee that split Belal’s lip wide open. As soon as the new champion was crowned, Belal Muhammad and his team left the building without doing the post-fight interview, and the reason was confirmed by Dana White as he uploaded an Instagram story revealing the former champ had a broken nose, orbital, and also a gashed lip. The head honcho captioned, “What a war!! Broken nose, orbital, and split up lip, @bullyb170, #respect!”

That cut was definitely reminiscent of another war between former champion Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald when they fought at the UFC 189 co-main event, when the former champion’s lip looked like it might fall off his face. Also, that’s not the only one, even Alistair Overeem also suffered a similar or maybe even more brutal cut against Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC on ESPN 7. So now, Belal Muhammad also joins them in the split-open lip league.

Now that the Palestinian-American has faced adversity in his first title defense, many are questioning his approach to the fight, mainly asking why he relied so heavily on striking instead of using his grappling from the start. Well, he had already set the stakes during the build-up, promising to prove that he can strike, which, according to Islam Makhachev’s coach, wasn’t the smartest idea.

Javier Mendez questions Belal Muhammad’s approach at UFC 315 main event

Belal Muhammad’s striking showcase was all about his determination to display those “Canelo hands.” It’s the one part of his game he’s always been criticized for, by fans and pretty much everyone else. But maybe he picked the wrong opponent to test that might against, because Jack Della Maddalena’s indomitable head movement and crisp boxing ended up taking that hard-earned belt away. His approach did come under some scrutiny, mostly from his own fans, but Javier Mendez had a more expert take on it.

During an interview with Submission Radio, AKA coach said, “None of us thought that Belal would be able to beat him just stand up, so he wanted to do what none of us thought he could do, that’s what I’m thinking. I could be wrong but that’s what it appeared like to me. Later he was able to stand really well, extremely well. But, I still didn’t like that because I wanted him to go back to what made him the best, and that’s the mistake that a lot of fighters make. They want to prove their point.”

That’s a valid point by Mendez. In the first two rounds, Belal was heavy on the striking and applied decent pressure, landing plenty of shots that found their mark. But it wasn’t until the third and fourth rounds that we saw the former champ lean into his wrestling, once ‘JDM’ became too slippery and hard to hit. So, ‘Remember The Name’s decision to prove he could look good on the feet might’ve ended up swinging the result in the other direction.

Would it have been different if Belal had started using his wrestling from the beginning? Maybe. But now, we’ll only find out if he ever crosses paths with JDM again. So, with that being said, do you think the fight could’ve played out differently if the former champ had used a different approach? Let us know in the comments.