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Jack Della Maddalena has admitted he does not know if his fight with Leon Edwards will determine the No 1 contender for the UFC welterweight title.
The Australian will face Edwards at UFC London on 22 March, as the latter competes for the first time since losing the title.
In July, Edwards suffered a decision loss to Belal Muhammad in Manchester, with Muhammad expected to defend the gold against Shavkat Rakhmonov next.
Edward’s loss to Muhammad marked the end of a 12-fight win streak – barring a 2021 No Contest against Muhammad – that saw the British-Jamaican claim the welterweight belt and retain it twice. Meanwhile, Della Maddalena is on a 17-fight win streak since losing his first two professional bouts. As such, either man would have a decent claim to a title shot next.
“I think their plan is to make this sort of a title contention fight,” Della Maddalena told Uncrowned on Wednesday (22 January), “but I guess they never lock anything in.
“I think it’s very much performance-based as well, in my opinion; I think if I go in there and have a close split decision over Leon, and someone else has a big performance, they might put them in front of me. I want to go in there and prove a point: prove a point that I can do to Leon what Belal couldn’t do [and finish him].”
Muhammad won a unanimous decision against Edwards, 33, as the new champion extended his win streak to 10, although he has been criticised for only finishing two opponents in that run. The Palestinian-American was due to defend the title against Rakhmonov in December, but a foot infection forced Muhammad out of that fight on short notice.
Ian Machado Garry stepped in to face Rakhmonov in a de facto No 1 contender’s fight, losing to his former training partner on points.
As a result, Rakhmonov is expected to challenge Muhammad in the coming months, and Della Maddalena said of that match-up: “It’s an interesting fight. I’m not sure, I think Shavkat will get him.
“I think maybe [he’s] too aggressive, [has] too much finishing ability. But then even in his last fight, he didn’t really show that side of his fighting style, so I’m not sure.”
Della Maddalena then proceeded to make a case for Muhammad, saying: “It might stay on the feet; the wrestling might counteract each other, and then I think Belal might get him to be honest. I think Belal, he has an awkward style and he might just be able to.
“I think Belal actually might beat him, and that’s just based on Shavkat’s last performance. I know it’s hard, because Garry is a tall striker so it’s a different sort of match-up, but I think Belal does have a good chance to beat Shavkat.”
Machado Garry became the first opponent of Rakhmonov not to be finished by the Kazakh, who reportedly fought the Irishman while suffering from an injury.
Della Maddalena is no stranger to injury, either, having not fought since his stoppage of Gilbert Burns in March due to a broken arm and infection.
“I just left the fight with a broken arm, so I got back to Perth straight after the fight and had surgery,” said the 28-year-old. “The surgeon said that’s the best way to go about it.
“It was pretty much just meant to be an easy surgery. It was just a snapped ulna, put a plate in, but after the surgery it became infected.”
