Former UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena says that he won’t be fighting on the upcoming UFC Sydney card.
Della Maddalena, who is one of Australia’s top UFC fighters, would seem to make a lot of sense to fight on the UFC Sydney card, which takes place on February 6 at Afterpay Arena.
But despite being asked to compete on the card, the former UFC welterweight champ says that date is too early for him and he won’t be fighting on the card, after all.
Jack Della Maddalena Won’t Fight at UFC Sydney
Speaking to Bedtime MMA, Della Maddalena explained why he won’t fight at UFC Sydney, revealing that he felt rushed into fighting on the UFC Perth card in May when he got knocked out by Carlos Prates, and he isn’t willing to rush back into the cage again.
“I do like traveling for fights. It is obviously awesome fighting in Australia. You get the whole crowd backing. But I feel definitely less pressure fighting elsewhere. The Sydney card would obviously be sick. It was a good opportunity. They did ask, but I feel like the last one, I sort of just jumped into the Perth fight because I kind of had to. I didn’t want to get sucked in too early. My plan after the last fight was develop the skills, become a better martial artist, so I didn’t want get just jump just because of the location. I wanted to give the best performance for the fans, for the team. (I’m) just going to ride it out a bit, but ready to go April, May next year,” Della Maddalena said (via MMAjunkie.com).
Who Will Jack Della Maddalena Fight Next?
Della Maddalena is coming off back-to-back losses to the aforementioned Prates and Islam Makhachev, so he doesn’t have a ton of say in who he will fight next, given he has no momentum right now.
To that end, he said he is intrigued by a matchup against surging Canadian welterweight contender Mike Malott, but ultimately he is leaving it up to the UFC matchmakers to book his next opponent.
Jack Della Maddalena Won’t Fight on Upcoming UFC Sydney Card