Will Jack Della Maddalena finally lose the UFC Welterweight title?
The main event for UFC 322 has been confirmed by Dana White as Jack Della Maddalena returns to the octagon to defend the UFC Welterweight title.
Maddalena is fresh off his hard fought win over Belal Muhammad at UFC 322. The 28-year-old has not lost a fight in nearly ten years; with Maddalena’s biggest win coming over Kevin Holland (by split decision at UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko 2), Randy Brown (by submission at UFC 284), and Gilbert Burns (by KO at UFC 299). Maddalena’s professional record currently stands at 18 wins and 2 losses.
Maddalena is also facing an opponent who hasn’t lost a fight in ten years. Islam Makhachev is a former UFC Lightweight Champion who was dominating the 155-pound division after his shocking loss to Adriano Martins at UFC 192. Makhachev won the UFC Lightweight title at UFC 280 and successfully defended his belt against Alexander Volkanovski (by unanimous decision at UFC 284 and KO at UFC 294), Dustin Poirier (by submission at UFC 302), and Renato Moicano (by submission at UFC311).
Makhachev vacated the title back in June to step up and challenge Maddalena for the welterweight title. His professional record currently stands at 27 wins and 1 loss.
The news that these two will be colliding at Madison Square Garden is not much of a shock as Makhachev requested this bout himself. It’s certainly risky to go from lightweight to welterweight and Maddalena’s team is extremely confident that he will take down the former UFC Lightweight Champion.
“I just don’t think Islam has the chin that Belal has.” Maddalena’s head coach Ben Vickers told Submission Radio. “We know for a fact that if Jack clips someone on the chin, they can go over. So, it could happen in the first minute, it could happen in the 24th minute… Jack likes long fights, he likes to be in there but obviously, we’re not getting paid for overtime.”
We’ll see on November 15 at Madison Square Garden. This should be a thrilling fight as Makhachev is Jack’s biggest threat to his championship to date. It's unknown what the rest of the card will be, but this is a huge fight that's worth the price of admission alone.