Islam Makhachev in Jack Della Maddalena's crosshairs as he aims to avenge Alexander Volkanovski: "A bit of a revenge"

No.5-ranked UFC welterweight Jack Della Maddalena has a date with destiny at UFC 315 this weekend. He will fight for a world title for the first time in his career as he faces UFC welterweight champ Belal Muhammad for the throne.

If Della Maddalena wins the strap, he could set in motion a series of events that could affect both the welterweight and lightweight divisions. At the moment, the lightweight division is ruled by Muhammad's friend, Islam Makhachev, who presumably chooses not to move up due to his relationship with the champ.

If Belal Muhammad drops the belt to Jack Della Maddalena, this could give Makhachev the greenlight to move to welterweight and try his luck at become a two-division champion. Luckily, 'JDM' is keen on welcoming the Dagestani champion to the 170-pound weight division.

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In an interview with MMA Fighting on YouTube, Della Maddalena said (16:54):

"It would be awesome, you know, and it has a bit of a story. Obviously the [Alexander] Volkanovski [vs Islam Makhachev] first fight was in Perth. So I reckon a lot of the Perth crowd would have definitely left that [fight] feeling a bitter. So they'll be coming back for a bit of revenge. I think it would go up."

Jack Della Maddalena's fellow Aussie fighter, UFC featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, fought Islam Makhachev for the first time at UFC 284 at Perth, Australia back in 2023. 'The Great' lost via unanimous decision.

Listen to Jack Della Maddalena here:

Jack Della Maddalena sends a chilling message to Belal Muhammad ahead of UFC 315

Jack Della Maddalena is on an impressive 15-fight winning streak with seven straight on the UFC's main roster. His most recent win - a Performance of the Night-winning KO of former title challenger Gilbert Burns - solidified his place as the next in line to fight for the throne.

Full of confidence ahead of his bout at UFC 315, 'JDM' issued a chilling message for the champion Belal Muhammad. On an episode of UFC Embedded leading up to UFC 315, he said:

"I think he's in for a rude awakening. I'll break him with strikes, physically break him. He's had a good run in the UFC, it's retirement time buddy."

Listen to Della Maddalena here:

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About the author

Duane is an expert MMA writer at Sportskeeda with over 10 years of experience working for the likes of Philippine Star, Esquire Philippines, Playboy Philippines, etc. A major in English, he has written over 2000 articles for Sportskeeda section, extensively covering UFC and boxing fights.

Duane is a practicing MMA fighter with a 11-7 record. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and trains Muay Thai. His connection with MMA dates back to 2005, when he turned into a fan after watching Fedor Emelianenko defeat Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic at Pride FC - Final Conflict 2005.

Emelianenko finds himself right at the top of Duane’s Mt. Rushmore of MMA fighters, alongside other big names like Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

Duane’s love for the sport is reflected in his writings, where he believes in speculating but not insinuating. He uses his intensive knowledge and skills in MMA to provide unique insights to the readers, along with sourcing information only from reliable sources.

Outside of work, Duane enjoys martial arts training, visual arts, film criticism, video games, and creative writing.

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Edited by Krishna Venki