Jack Della Maddalena may have just passed the biggest test of his career by defeating Belal Muhammad to become the UFC welterweight champ—but according to Daniel Cormier, that was just the warm-up.
With the pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev now firmly in his sights, Della Maddalena is staring down an even tougher challenge. In fact, as far as DC is concerned, JDM will need to seriously level up as Makhachev lines up for a legacy-defining campaign at 170 lbs.
However, given how closely Belal’s grinding, pressure-heavy style mirrors that of Makhachev, this may have just been the perfect dress rehearsal for the main event.
“He fought a wonderful fight and he is now the UFC welterweight champion. And you would think that when you get a big win like that, there is a lot of time to celebrate,” Cormier said, while also issuing a warning.
“Unfortunately for Jack Della, right away he gets Islam. If there is a guy to fight before you fight Islam, it is a guy who likes to wrestle and uses it as his main tool,” he added, explaining the conundrum the newly minted champion finds himself in.
Della Maddalena came out aggressive from the start at UFC 315, landing crisp jabs and chopping leg kicks while Belal tried to find his rhythm.
Belal had a few moments, landing some solid combos, but Jack stayed composed and sharp, mixing in clean counters and body shots. Belal abandoned his traditional pressure-wrestling in favor of a more entertaining striking approach, but it simply backfired as Jack lit him up with some pinpoint striking.
As the fight went on, Della Maddalena’s timing only got better. He repeatedly landed slick counters, snapping Muhammad’s head back and opening a nasty cut.
Belal showed heart and pushed forward, even scoring a takedown in the final round, but Jack popped back up after a slight struggle and continued landing heavy shots.
Even as the fight reached its climax, Maddalena attempted to close it with a finish and cut Belal up with a flurry of combinations. Belal attempted to respond in kind, but his limitations simply didn’t allow him to work around JDM’s slick head movements.
Speaking about the performance, Makhachev’s coach Javier Mendez noted that, unlike Belal, Islam will not be abandoning his best practices to entertain the crowd.
Notably, Makhachev is also a sharper boxer than Belal and offers far more on the ground than the Palestinian-American fighter. While Belal’s takedowns are meant to control the fight, Islam also has the arsenal of submissions he will actively try to impose on the Aussie.
However, as of right now, it appears Maddalena is ready for the challenge
JDM welcomes Makhachev challenge with open arms
Maddalena may have just won the welterweight belt, but he’s already got UFC champs coming after him. His win over Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 didn’t just shake up the 170-pound division—it opened the door for lightweight king Makhachev to move up.
With Makhachev being tight with Belal, he likely wouldn’t have gone after the welterweight strap if Belal had kept it. But now? Islam wasted no time, posting on social media that it was time to win that second title he’s been yearning for a year.
Responding to Maddalena’s claims about wanting vengeance for Alexander Volkanovski’s two loss to him, the pound for pound #1 fighter asserts, “You are not Volk (Alexander Volkanovski), I will show you different level. Keep my belt clean“.
But JDM is more than ready.
“I think it makes sense you know, there’s a big history in Perth….So let’s do it again, the Perth crowd went absolutely crazy last time and I think they would blow the roof off if it was a hometown boy being the champ,” he said, adding that he would go another five rounds right after the Belal fight.
