HYDEN BLOG: Looking at Upcoming UFC Main Events, Nemkov to PFL

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist

There were no big events this past weekend because of Labor Day in the U.S.A. so I’ll just touch upon some news.

UFC Welterweight Champion Jack Della Maddalena (18-2) will defend
his belt against former UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev
(27-1) at UFC 322 on November 15, 2025. It’s hard to pick against Della Maddalena but how do you pick against Makhachev? This feels like
a fight that goes the distance but I guess we’ll see what happens in a few months.

Also on that card is UFC Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko
(25-4-1) defending her belt against current UFC Strawweight Champion
Zhang Weili (26-3), who will vacate her UFC Strawweight Championship
in order to challenge for the UFC Flyweight Championship. I’m not sure
why they’re making Zhang vacate when they haven’t done that to others
but considering the inactivity of many fighters (Zhang herself being
among the worst offenders of that) I’m all for that becoming a new
rule. This will likely go the distance as well but I think Zhang establishes herself firmly as the champion in her new division.

Battling for the vacant UFC Flyweight Championship will be Virna
Jandiroba (22-3) and Mackenzie Dern (15-5) in a bout that will likely
go the distance as well. This fight takes place at UFC 321 on October 25, 2025 and will serve as the co-main event.

The headline fight of UFC 321 is UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom
Aspinall (15-3) defending his belt against Ciryl Gane (13-2).

This follows UFC 320 on October 4, 2025, which is headlined by
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Magomed Ankalaev (20-1-1, 1 No Contest)
defending his belt against former UFC Light Heavyweight and UFC Middleweight Champion Alex Pereira (12-3). This is yet another fight
that I could easily see going the distance and I generally lean toward
the champion in that situation.

The co-main event of UFC 320 is UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab
Dvalishvili (20-4) defending his belt against Cory Sandhagen (18-5). I
think Dvalishvili takes the decision here, in another fight that unfortunately goes the distance. Dvalishvili could finish him, as
Sandhagen isn’t exactly on a roll in his last few fights, but Sandhagen is very tough and could easily do enough to not get stopped.

I will say that it’s pretty nice to see the next few numbered UFC
events having good fights at the top, or at least interesting title
fights. Just in time for the UFC Pay-Per-View model to die.

Former Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Vadim Nemkov (18-2, 1
No Contest) has agreed to a two-year contract with PFL. He had negotiated with UFC but their offer was only half of what PFL offered
him. Apparently, UFC officials told Nemkov that they don’t need more
Russian fighters because they can’t hold events in Russia and they
don’t really make money from broadcasts in Russia.

Welp, that’s pretty much it in terms of news. Sorry for such a short blog. The UFC returns next week so The Good, The Bad, and
The Ugly will return then.
Happy Labor Day, everyone, and I hope everyone everywhere is doing well.

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Thank you very much, have a good day.

Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.