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A UFC veteran recently weighed in on Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev, noting that he believes the Australian poses a threat to the Dagestani's wrestling. He highlighted the welterweight champion's wrestling as an area and compared it to another one of Makhachev's former foes.
UFC CEO Dana White made several major announcements last Wednesday, providing clarity to the welterweight and lightweight divisions. White announced that Makhachev had vacated his lightweight championship to move up and challenge Della Maddalea, resulting in Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira being booked to crown a new champion.
In the latest episode of his On Paper with Anthony Smith podcast, the UFC veteran shared his thoughts on the announcement regarding Della Maddalena vs. Makhachev, posing an intriguing matchup for the Dagestani. Smith used Dustin Poirier as an example and mentioned that the welterweight champion is an improved version of 'The Diamond', who took the former lightweight champion to the limit:
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"I felt like Poirier made it tough at times. I know he got kind of 50-45 up to the point he got finished, but he was able to get up off the ground, he defended some takedowns, he was able to land some shots, he was able to cut Islam. Like, he was able to push Islam. And so, I just thought maybe [Della Maddalena] is a bigger, stronger, younger, maybe better version of Poirier, which makes it interesting."
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Check out the full episode featuring Anthony Smith's comments regarding Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev below (21:22):
Anthony Smith expresses excitement for Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev clash
Anthony Smith also expressed his excitement for Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev when they eventually clash for the welterweight championship.
In the aforementioned episode, Smith mentioned that he is looking forward to seeing what transpires and questioned whether Makhachev will be successful, especially considering the difficulty Belal Muhammad had against Della Maddalena:
"I just really love the [Della Maddalena vs.] Islam fight because it's different, it's got big fight feels and I found myself thinking, 'Man, Jack is big'. Is Islam moving up a weight class? Belal wasn't even close on a lot of those takedowns."
Check out Jack Della Maddalena's post-fight interview following his welterweight title win at UFC 315 below:
