UFC 322 produced a big night of fights in “The Big Apple,” as a host of fighters delivered standout performances on fight night in New York City.
UFC 322 power rankings
RDX Sports’ Editor-in-chief and veteran MMA writer Simon Head takes a look at the winners of the main card and presents his Power Rankings for UFC 322.
1. Michael Morales
In a crowded welterweight division, we’ve seen plenty of evidence to suggest Ecuador’s Michael Morales could challenge the 170-pound elite. And on Saturday night we saw that he is not only a contender for the title, but perhaps the best of the bunch.
Facing a Sean Brady who completely dominated former champion Leon Edwards last time out, Morales operated from a low, crouched striking stance and proceeded to pick Brady apart with strikes.
With the Philadelphia native unable to impress Morales, thanks to the Ecuadorian’s striking offense and struggling defense, Morales began to heat up, and it wasn’t long before he finally finished Brady with strikes as he claimed a statement victory and established himself as a clear and present danger to newly crowned welterweight champion Islam Makhachev.
2. Valentina Shevchenko
Valentina Shevchenko’s flyweight title defense against former strawweight champion Zhang Weili pitted the UFC’s top two female pound-for-pound fighters against each other, but in a head-to-head comparison between the two, Shevchenko showed she operates on a different level than the rest as she claimed a shutout victory on the scorecards.
When she chose to strike with Zhang, Shevchenko’s kickboxing looked crisp, sharp and fast. But perhaps out of respect for Zhang’s own speed and striking ability, Shevchenko chose to take “Magnum” off her feet and dominate her on the ground.
Shevchenko landed five of six takedown attempts during the fight as she logged 13 minutes and 24 seconds of control time in their 25-minute title fight.
The big question now is: what will Shevchenko do next? Natalia Silva could be her next test at 125 pounds, but a move down to 135 to go for bantamweight gold could be in the offing…
3. Carlos Prates
Before his welterweight fight with former champion Leon Edwards, Brazilian contender Carlos Prates stated that the fans pay to watch knockouts and violence, and he did that on fight night, and how.
Prates busied himself with grinding Edwards cling match against the fence, and even had time to exchange comments with the former champion during the action before finally being separated and releasing his hands into the open air.
And early in the second round, Prates made good on his pre-fight promise when he connected with a monster straight left to knock out Edwards. It was the first time “Rocky” had been knocked out in his career, and it announced Prates as a dangerous, exciting wild card in the welterweight title sweepstakes.
4. Islam Makhachev
The big question on everyone’s lips ahead of the main event of UFC 322 was: How would Islam Makhachev do at welterweight? It turns out he did quite well.
Makhachev completely dominated Jack Della Maddalena, who looked out of ideas and deep against the Russian, who took him down almost at will and muscled his way to a shutout victory on the scorecards as he captured the undisputed welterweight title.
It wasn’t the prettiest way to win for Makhachev, but while his grinding approach may not make too many clips for the UFC’s highlights, it’s up to the rest of the welterweight division to find a way to beat him.
Della Maddalana certainly couldn’t, but with a long line of contenders looking to challenge for the title, Makhachev will have no problem finding viable challenges for his title in 2026.
5. Benoit Saint-Denis
The level of performance at UFC 322 was so high: Benoit Saint Denis’s 16-second knockout of Beneil Dariush only reaches fifth place in our UFC 322 Power Rankings. That doesn’t detract from the brilliant performance of “The God of War” – he did everything you could hope for in a fight to achieve an emphatic, quick victory. But the impact of that win on his weight class may not be as big as some of the wins mentioned above.
Saint Denis has bounced back brilliantly since back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier and Renato Moicano in 2024, and he heads into 2026 on a three-fight win streak, with his wins over Kyle Prepolec, Mauricio Ruffy and Dariush all coming via finish.
Simon Head is editor-in-chief at the renowned combat sports equipment company RDX Sports. Check out their latest range MMA fighting gear Today.
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