Jack Della Maddalena edged Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) to become the new welterweight champion in Saturday’s UFC 315 headliner at Bell Centre in Montreal. JDM hooked up his betting supporters as a +170 underdog.

Prop bets on ‘yes’ for the fight to go the distance hit at a -150 price at DraftKings. Likewise, wagers on ‘over’ 4.5 rounds (-154 at FanDuel, -190 at BetRivers) were winners.

The prop for Della Maddalena to win by decision netted a lucrative +700 payout at FanDuel.

Della Maddalena created a kickboxing match for the most part by stuffing six of Muhammad’s nine takedown attempts. That was his path to victory because he’s the better striker, although Muhammad acquitted himself well on the feet.

But JDM had a 178-132 advantage in significant strikes, connecting at a 52-percent clip compared to 41 percent for Muhammad, who saw his six-fight winning streak and 11-fight unbeaten run snapped in his first title defense. Meanwhile, Della Maddalena extended his winning streak to 18 fights and improved to 8-0 in the UFC.

“Going in there against Belal with that sort of pressure wrestling, you have to be smart,” Della Maddalena said. “I couldn’t spend too much time on my back. I knew I would spend a bit of time on my back, but I felt like I took a breath and then made my move.”

JDM’s takedown defense was so strong that Muhammad didn’t even attempt one in the third round and didn’t execute one until the fourth. Della Maddalena’s striking took its toll on Muhammad, opening a big cut on his left cheek and badly busting up his lip.

Nevertheless, Muhammad kept coming and had his moments in the fifth, but it wasn’t enough. Della Maddalena simply landed the crisper and more damaging strikes through 25 minutes.

With Della Maddalena winning, we’re assured of one future matchup, and that’s former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria facing former lightweight kingpin Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira for the vacant (or interim?) 155-pound belt in the UFC 317 headliner. DraftKings and BetOnline usually have UFC odds up ahead of other books, but neither shop had a number for Topuria-Oliveira as of 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.

Islam Makhachev is the current lightweight champ, but he’s looking to move up to 170 pounds and become a double champion. However, Shavkat Rakhmonov is the welterweight loop’s #1 contender, although it’s unclear where he’s at health-wise.

In the co-main event, Valentina ‘The Bullet’ Shevchenko successfully defended her flyweight strap by capturing a UD win (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) over Manon Fiorot as a +110 underdog. Seventeen of 21 media members scored the contest in favor of Shevchenko, with three of them giving her a 49-46 nod.

It was a close and fierce battle from start to finish, and the stats indicated as much. Shevchenko connected on 72-of-149 strikes, while Fiorot landed 71-of-160. The champ landed 2-of-9 takedown attempts, while Fiorot landed only 1-of-12.

The 37-year-old Shevchenko improved to 11-1-1 in her last 13 contests. She’s now successfully defended her 125-pound belt eight times.

What’s next? Perhaps a matchup vs. strawweight champion Zhang Weili.

In a featherweight showdown that was initially going to be a bantamweight bout before Jose Aldo’s weight cut went off the rails, Aiemann Zahabi won a controversial UD (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Aldo with all three judges giving the nod to Zahabi by 48-47 scores.

However, not many people agreed with that verdict. In fact, 16 of 20 media members scored it 29-28 for Aldo. Two others had it as a 28-28 draw and the other two had 29-28 in favor of Zahabi, who hooked up his supporters as a +145 underdog.

Aldo nearly finished the fight early in the third round when he had Zahabi stumbling from one side of the Octagon to the other. The former featherweight king went all out for the finish, hitting Zahabi with a flurry of knees, kicks and punches.

But by the three-minute mark, Aldo had gassed himself out trying to close the show. At that point, Zahabi regained control and spent the next few minutes on top busting Aldo up with ground-and-pound punishment.

After the decision went against him, the 38-year-old Aldo announced his retirement. He left his gloves in the center of the Octagon before leaving the cage.

If it is indeed his final fight, it’s a disappointing way to end a decorated career for one of the all-time greats. Aldo was already inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame’s Modern wing with the Class of 2023.

The Brazilian owns the most successful title defenses in featherweight history with seven and has participated in the most 145-pound title fights (11). He won the UFC’s featherweight strap twice and also held the belt under the WEC banner before the promotion merged with the UFC.

In another women’s flyweight scrap, Natalia Silva defeated former champion Alex Grasso via UD (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) as a -230 favorite. If Shevchenko doesn’t face Weili next, Silva certainly stated her case for a title shot.

In the opener of the pay-per-view card, Benoit Saint Denis ended his two-fight slide by beating Kyle Prepolec, who took the fight on less than a week of notice after Joel Alvarez withdrew due to an injury. BSD got the victory via second-round submission (arm-triangle choke) as a -1450 ‘chalk.’

The prop for BSD to win by submission cashed for a +138 return at BetRivers.

Mike Malott thrilled the crowd in the Prelims headliner by starching Charles Radtke with a second-round knockout as a -200 favorite. Other winners on the Prelims included Jasmine Jasudavicius, Modestas Bukauskas, Navajo Stirling, Marc-Andre Barriault, Daniel Santos and Bekzat Almakhan.

Muhammad and JDM took home an extra $50,000 for Fight of the Night honors, while Jasudavicius and Barriault won the Performance of the Night bonuses.