The problem with Jack Della Maddalena: Analyzing his win over Bassil Hafez

Jack Della Maddalena is one of the most exciting prospects in the UFC middleweight division. The 26-year old has youth on his side, and is currently riding along the wave of an impressive 15-fight win streak. This past Saturday, he faced Bassil Hafez.

He was originally scheduled to lock horns with Sean Brady at UFC 290. Unfortunately, an undisclosed injury forced Brady off the card. He was subsequently replaced by Josiah Harrell, a UFC debutant. However, he too withdrew from the bout due to being diagnosed with a rare brain disease.

Thus, Jack Della Maddalena was booked to face another promotional newcomer in Bassil Hafez. Instead of UFC 290, the matchup took place at UFC on ESPN 49. While the Australian emerged victorious, the win revealed some troubling elements about his performance.

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The positives: Jack Della Maddalena's striking

Strikers in the UFC come in different varieties. Some of the promotion's fighters are counterpunchers who like to operate from the outside like reigning middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Others are aggressive pressure fighters who cut off their opponents' angles of escape like Paulo Costa.

Some mixed martial artists are point-fighters, and others search for the finish. Jack Della Maddalena is a finisher. In 15 wins, he has scored 11 knockouts. The remaining four wins are divided by two submissions and two decisions. Not only is he a finisher, he is an intelligent pressure fighter.

Against Bassil Hafez, the Australian showcased the main hallmarks of his striking: stance-switching and body punches. While he traditionally opens most of his bouts from the southpaw stance, he is a frequent stance-switcher, as doing so allows him to change the alignment of his opponent's strikes.

However, against Hafez, he encountered a foe who was wise to his general strategic approach. The short-notice replacement switched stances with him, forcing 'JDM' to adjust to his foe's adjustments by switching stances every single time Hafez did. He did so to interrupt the rhythm his foe kept trying to set.

By answering Hafez's stance-switching with stance switches of his own, the Australian forced his opponent into frequent resets. Furthermore, he found a chink in his foe's armor every time they found themselves in an open stance engagement.

The promotioal newcomer sought to counter him. Jack Della Maddalena's retort to it was to counter his counter. He'd square his hips and shoulders to create the illusion of a power-punch, but then throw a pawing right straight to draw out his foe's counter as he slid out of range.

Once Hafez took the bait and pounced with an attempted counterpunch, Della Maddalena was already a few inches beyond his reach. He'd then glide back into range with a counterpunching combination, often punctuating them with hard blows to the body, which sapped Hafez of his cardio.

By committing to the body, he created openings for combinations over the top, similar to how Ilia Topuria set up his knockout over Jai Herbert. Unfortunately, a knockout for the Australian never came. Instead, the tale of the tape was told by the area in which he fell short.

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The negatives: Jack Della Maddalena's decision-making

While he is often praised for his boxing skills, Jack Della Maddalena is a well-rounded fighter. At UFC 284, he defeated Randy Brown via submission. Perhaps this factored into the nature of his performance against Bassil Hafez. Or it could also have been the uncertainty of fighting a short-notice replacement.

Part of the criticism that Conor McGregor faced in his loss to Nate Diaz years ago was due to his foe's nature as a short-notice replacement. McGregor was training for a title fight against Rafael dos Anjos, yet gassed in the first round and lost to Nate Diaz, who had cut his vacation in Cabo short to face the Irishman.

However, this neglects that much of a fighter's training camp entails game-planning around an opponent's tendencies. Bassil Hafez was an unknown, and 'JDM' likely felt the pressure to finish him as quickly and as soundly as possible to preserve his reputation.

A hard-fought win would take some of the shine off of him. This is also why Conor McGregor tried to land a meia lua de compasso kick on Nate Diaz at UFC 196. He had to have a dominant win over the short-notice replacement, nothing else would suffice for the man who knocked José Aldo out in 13 seconds.

Similarly, Jack Della Maddalena likely felt the same pressure. He had to finish Bassil Hafez quickly. He was a UFC debutant coming in on short notice. Surely, he couldn't survive longer than the likes of Randy Brown, who went through a full camp to face him and has been a UFC fighter for some time now.

This led to Jack Della Maddalena nearly costing himself the fight by constantly pulling the guillotine. He did so in the first round, but Hafez quickly stepped over the Australian's legs to gain top control. In the second round, Della Maddalena found significant success on the feet.

Unfortunately, he pulled the guillotine again, later repeating his actions in the third round by attempting a rear-naked choke. Perhaps what was most perplexing was that he'd correctly defend his foe's takedowns with a snap-down, then turn the front headlock into a guillotine that always rewarded his opponent with top control.

His decision-making was poor in this regard. The hope is that it only reflects an eagerness to finish a short-notice foe and not a gap in his fight IQ regarding grappling sequnces, which could come back to haunt him if he is rescheduled to face Sean Brady at a later date.