The UFC world is waiting to witness one of the most anticipated bouts of 2025, as Jack Della Maddalena and Islam Makhachev prepare to rock Madison Square Garden on November 15. Fans built massive hype around this fight, and they expected a banger press conference to match that energy. However, both superstars brought less star power than expected, and the event failed to deliver the usual excitement, making the press conference feel flat compared to other UFC events this year.

Popular social media account Jed I. Goodman shared the viewing stats of the press conference’s YouTube live stream on his page. He reported that the live UFC 322 press conference on the UFC YouTube channel peaked at over 71K viewers at 5:00 PM ET. More than seventy thousand people tuned in worldwide, which still counts as a strong number, but the viewership fell short when compared to other PPV events this year. UFC 319: Dricus du Plessis vs Khamzat Chimaev drew over 110.7K live viewers, and UFC 317: Ilia Topuria vs Charles Oliveira reached 97.2K. However, moments later, a shocker came.

Goodman also shared in another post that UFC 322’s highly anticipated bantamweight bout took a hit after the undefeated knockout machine Malcolm Wellmaker’s opponent, Cody Haddon, pulled out because of an injury. The UFC has now replaced him with Californian Ethyn Ewing, and the matchup will move forward as a featherweight bout. 

The post read, “Per UFC, Due to injury, Cody Haddon has been removed from his bantamweight bout with Malcolm Wellmaker. Replacing Haddon will be Ethyn Ewin.” 

Wellmaker’s fight in UFC 322 might be the most cursed one. The promotion originally scheduled him to face Serhiy Sidey at Madison Square Garden, but in sheer disappointment, Sidey withdrew from the fight because of a shoulder dislocation. Following that misfortune, the Aussie also fell out. Now, with weigh-ins remaining, the fear of further mishaps will always stay in the air.

That said, even though the press conference didn’t live up to the mark, Islam Makhachev still ended up stealing the show with a very pro-Islam crowd in New York. So, let’s dive into what the former lightweight champion said. 

Islam Makhachev welcomed with cheers, while JDM received noticeable booing at the UFC 322 presser  

Islam Makhachev has always been a well-known fighter in the UFC, but after becoming the champion, his stardom rose to a different level. The Dagestani icon’s status was amplified that even more by defending the title four times against some of the toughest competition in the 155 lbs division. Now, as Makhachev moves one step closer to receiving a second UFC belt and getting his name written in gold in the history books, the excitement around him continues to grow.

With that in mind, Makhachev received a king-like welcome at the UFC 322 press conference, even as the challenger, while the champion Jack Della Maddalena faced a wave of boos. After a reporter asked ‘JDM’ a question about his next challenge, he answered, “That’s a big challenge that I’m looking forward to and it’s my time.” He couldn’t finish his sentence before a large section of the audience rained down boos. However, when the camera panned to the former lightweight champ, the scene changed instantly.

The reporter asked Makhachev about the reception he got in MSG, and he replied in typical fashion, “Become every day close to the fight. Very excited, you know. When I was in Australia on tours, the people, the crowd supported my opponent. And now we’re in the US, and people support me. Thank you guys.”

Here, the former champ referenced how the Australian crowd booed him during his fight with Alexander Volkanovski, and now the scene looked completely different. The crowd erupted in cheers as he prepared to face another Aussie in the most important fight of his career.

And that stood as one of the very few highlights the UFC 322 presser produced. With that being said, did you feel underwhelmed by the presser? Let us know in the comments section below