When Jack Della Maddalena stopped Ramazan Emeev in June 2022, he passed what he described as the “Dagestani wrestling test”. At UFC 322, he now faces the Islam Makhachev test – the final boss of Dagestani wrestling tests.
The incumbent welterweight champion is only in the embryonic stages of what he hopes will be a memorable title reign. Yet in his first defence, Dana White has fast-tracked him to a legacy fight. In imperious former lightweight king Makhachev, Della Maddalena has been tasked with overcoming a man three former champions have fallen at the feet of.
To call this bout make-or-break for the Australian’s career would be hyperbole; only a select class of fighters can call themselves world champions. But if he punctures Makhechev’s mystique at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, sending him packing back to 155lb, “JDM” could become the three hottest letters in the UFC.
Della Maddalena is the underdog. Fresh to the spotlight and the pressure that comes with it, the 29-year-old is a young champion in every respect. He only snatched the belt off Belal Muhammad six months ago, putting on a clinic to nullify the grappler’s gameplan and dethrone the Palestinian-American who himself was defending the title for the first time.
Even still, when it mattered, JDM delivered an exemplary performance on all fronts. While renowned for his crisp boxing, it was his takedown defence that particularly stood out, with Muhammad landing just three takedowns compared to the nine he achieved when he dismantled Leon Edwards in 2024. Key to this was Della Maddalena’s anti-wrestling style. His mobility and footwork caused a big problem for Muhammad in initiating wrestling, with the latter only shooting for an average of 0.4 takedowns per minute while on the feet; over five times less than he did against Edwards.
Add this favourable style to Della Maddalena’s knockout power, scrambling capability and a black-belt BJJ acumen aided by his partnership with coach Craig Jones (described by some as Australia’s solution to Dagestani grappling) and JDM seems to have all the tools, on paper, to leave Makhachev looking at the lights for the first time since his one and only loss 10 years ago – which to first-time viewers will feel more AI than reality.
But this is Makhachev we’re talking about, the UFC’s pound-for-pound best. He is a different breed.
The Russian ruled what the majority consider to be the most competitive division in the UFC, defeating Charles Oliveira, Dustin Poirier, Renato Moicano and Alexander Volkanovski twice in a unimpeachable two-and-a-half year reign, before vacating the gold in May to move up to welterweight. It was a title run that fell under the “wreck everyone and leave” category – and it’s his invincible aura that has people writing off JDM before the fighters have even weighed in.
Makhachev’s decision to move up a weight class coincided with Ilia Topuria doing the same, with the concrete-fisted Georgian-Spaniard relinquishing his featherweight crown after brutally knocking out two of the best to ever grace the division: two-time champion Volkanovski and Max Holloway. By opting not to deviate off the path towards two-division dominance, Makhachev – by coincidence or not – abandoned what would have arguably been his greatest challenge as lightweight champion: a showdown with Topuria.
The desire to add double-champ status to his already GOAT-teetering legacy evidently outweighed what is likely the biggest fight the UFC can put on at the moment. But Makhachev knows where the money is. He last month stoked speculation surrounding a super-fight with Topuria, becoming the latest to make his main-event pitch for next summer’s touted White House card.
“He wants to fight in White House, I also want to be there,” he said. “It’s going to be big fight for MMA community. If people want this fight, if UFC want this fight, we can do this. I know the UFC wants to do a big fight in the White House. Which fight going to be bigger than this?”
This would indicate that, should Makhachev leave the Garden with the belt around his waist, his stay at welterweight could be short-lived. But plans in fighting can be fragile. JDM is out to change the course of history and, as his former opponents attest to, he’s “special”.
British fighter Danny Roberts, who was knocked out by the Aussie in November 2022, told The Independent: “I knew from the second we started throwing hard, ‘This is a good kid.’ He’s going to give Makhachev problems, and a lot of people might not see that. Some people counted him out against Belal, some people counted him out against a friend of mine, Gilbert Burns. The kid’s special.”
Della Maddalena will know that, in the 10 months that have separated Makhachev’s last fight at lightweight and now, the Dagestani has had more than enough time to adequately bulk. Size will not be a defining factor.
In simple terms, the best fighter will emerge from Saturday night with the gold. JDM will walk into MSG as just another UFC champion. He could walk out as a superstar.
