Jack Della Maddalena and Islam Makhachev are set to square off in Madison Square Garden.
JDM is riding high coming into the fight. Maddalena hasn’t lost a fight in nearly ten years. Plus, he remains undefeated within the UFC. He has a certain level of confidence that’s been earned because of his strong performances throughout the years. The UFC Welterweight Champion spoke about his upcoming opponent on The West Sport and he feels that Islam’s striking is easier that former champ Belal Muhammad.
“I think Islam Makhachev is a better version of Belal. I think his striking on the feet, I even think it’s easier than Belal because he’ll just stay in one stance. He’s [got] more [of a] traditional style. But yeah, he’s the pound-for-pound number one so it’s a tough fight. I guess we’ll just watch all of his fights again, make a solid game plan, and then just start working at it from pretty much now.”
JDM was pretty complimentary of his opponent on November 16, but Islam’s coach - Javier Mendez - warns JDM not to underestimate Makhachev’s striking.
“If he’s saying that, I hope that he goes in believing that because when he gets in there with Islam you’re going to find out a whole different story,” Mendez said. “I’m sorry, they’re completely different, and by no means is Islam easy for anybody in the standup. Any MMA fighter that’s a striker is not going to have an easy time with him. I’ve been with this kid going on 11 years of watching him just destroy everybody in the standup. Guys that are much better standup than him and he still destroys them.
“Don’t go by what you see. When you get in there with that man, it’s a whole different ballgame.”
Despite Mendez not being too pleased with JDM’s dismissal of his client’s striking game, the coach highly compliments JDM’s striking and knows that Islam is in the for the toughest fight of his career.
“His striking is very, very good,” Mendez said. “It’s very diverse and he’s very powerful with every strike. He can hurt you with anything. He can hurt you with a kick, a knee, left hook, right hand, right uppercut, left hook, you name it. The guy’s got the total arsenal to be able to put you down, so I’m definitely fully aware of what he can do. Also, the longer it stands, there’s always a good chance he’s going to get hit, we’re going to get hit. So the longer it stands, the worse it can get for somebody. At some point or another, guys like this, they’re both volume, kind of precision strikers, so we just have to make sure that he doesn’t land any of the bombs. And he could, it could happen because of the way he does it.
“He’s not a 1-type guy. He’s a 1-2-3-4 type, then re-chambers and comes back again and he’ll switch his style while he’s punching you. He’s switching, so you’re going from orthodox to southpaw back to orthodox all while striking and that’s extremely impressive.”
We’ll see who’s better on November 16th! The highly anticipated bout could be one of the best fights of 2025. However, neither man underestimates their opponents strength in two months.