On November 15th, Islam Makhachev and Jack Della Maddalena will collide inside Madison Square Garden, and fans are expecting a barn burner. Both fighters have the tools to put each other on skates, but the Dagestani former champ is getting most of the green lights to win this match. Even though the reigning welterweight champion has supporters backing him, Makhachev currently holds the advantage as a -250 betting favorite to win this bout.

The former lightweight kingpin’s dominance in his previous division, where he defended his belt four times against tough competition, makes him the favorite in many fans’ eyes. Moreover, Makhachev’s elite wrestling has also become one of the key reasons people are picking him to beat Della Maddalena, even though the champ has shown impressive anti-wrestling skills so far. But wait, there’s more. According to veteran journalist Luke Thomas, Islam doing far more media than ‘JDM’ has also become a compelling reason why he’s getting the majority of the support to fulfill his dream of becoming a two-division champion.  

Luke Thomas breaks down how Islam Makhachev’s media presence made him the favorite against JDM

In an interview with Submission Radio, Thomas pointed out, “I think there’s starting be a lot of that sort of—there’s been a lot of Makhachev boosters in the media. You’re hearing a lot of stories. I saw for example, you know, Ali is obviously advocating for his guys, but more than that, I saw, this is one example I’m saying, this kind of thing is happening a lot.”  

And that’s a brilliant assessment by the veteran journalist. Since Khabib Nurmagomedov retired, Islam Makhachev has followed in his footsteps to become one of the most recognizable Dagestani champions in UFC history. The former lightweight champ’s dominant performances deserve most of the credit, but staying in front of fans through interviews, sharing training insights, and dropping viral quotes like “send your kids two three years in Dagestan and forget,” has also influenced how people view this UFC 322 matchup. According to Thomas, that’s something ‘JDM’ isn’t doing enough of.

He added in the Submission Radio interview, “You know, Craig Jones is out there, so there’s some interesting things happening. But the point I’m trying to make is, one guy, it’s not like Islam does a ton of interviews either, but one guy is a bigger name to begin with. And there’s just that booster thing that’s happening around him. And I think that explains how some of the lines move here. Again, these are normal line movements.”

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Still, Thomas acknowledged that Della Maddalena isn’t completely silent. He recently did an interview with Israel Adesanya and has been active in Australian media, while recently appearing on the New York Post Sports channel as well. Still, Thomas’ argument centered on Makhachev simply being the bigger star. That star power, according to the veteran journalist, heavily contributes to why Islam is favored ahead of the MSG bout. But, along with that, he pointed out another factor that may be influencing the bookmakers to lean toward the Dagestani. 

The former lightweight champ once dominated a middleweight 

Makhachev might have competed at lightweight for most of his career, but the stories of him going against bigger guys and dominating them are not unheard of. At UFC 322, the Dagestani former champ is going to face a physically larger opponent in Jack Della Maddalena, and some fans have questioned whether he would be adequately sized for the challenge. So Thomas decided to clear that doubt by mentioning how Islam dismantled Punahele Soriano, a former middleweight fighter, on the mat.

Thomas said on the Submission Radio podcast, “So Punahele Soriano did an interview with Mike Bohn. Did you see it? He said one time during the pandemic, he rolled into Xtreme Couture and had no one to train with. He called up Ali and said, ‘I kind of got no one to train with.’ They’re like, ‘We’ll send Islam to go,’ and Soriano at that time was a full 185er. And he said, Makhachev just murdered him for two hours.”

And that is true. Even Soriano, who now competes in the welterweight division, admitted in an MMA Junkie interview that it was probably the most gentle technical beating. If that is not enough, Islam’s coach, Javier Mendez, once claimed in a Red Corner MMA interview that the former lightweight kingpin has also sparred with heavyweights while training in Dagestan.

So, although Islam Makhachev has said that moving to 170 lbs required hard training, there should not be any doubts about him being undersized against Jack Della Maddalena. That said, do you think the former lightweight champ will live up to the favorite tag and lift another belt at MSG? Or will the Aussie prove that Islam should not have challenged the big dogs? Let us know in the comments section below.