UFC 315: Jack of the Maddalena Media Day Interview
UFC 315 headliner Jack Della Maddalena spoke to MMA Junkie and reporters at media day for his welterweight title fight vs. Belal Muhammad on Saturday in Montreal.
MONTREAL – The time is now.
That’s according to Jack Della Maddalena, the man challenging welterweight champion Belal Muhammad for gold Saturday at UFC 315 at Bell Centre.
“I’m feeling good. It feels like any other fight week,” Della Maddalena told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday. “I feel like all the preparations have gone well. I feel I have left no stone unturned, and I’m ready to go out there and perform.”
When Della Maddalena’s title opportunity was first announced, it came as a surprise to most for a variety of reasons. Not only was he removed from his scheduled UFC Fight Night 255 headliner vs. Leon Edwards, he skipped over Shavkat Rakhmonov, who was penciled as the next title challenger but who suffered an injury.
Expediting his path to the title has some questioning whether Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) is ready. Della Maddalena himself is less unsure.
“I think it was good timing,” Della Maddalena said. “I think if I hadn’t gotten the injury, my thoughts would’ve been that I probably would’ve been fighting for a title at a similar time. I think I would’ve had to fight one of the top guys later in the year. I believe it’s worked out the same. I obviously missed a fight. In a perfect world, we would’ve had the fight beforehand. But I think timeline works out well.”
Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) ran up the UFC’s divisional ladder en route to a title-clinching victory over Leon Edwards in July but has not fought once. While Muhammad has many critics and doubters, Della Maddalena is not among them.
“Obviously, this is the big one,” Della Maddalena said. “I’ve been working this for a long time. But yeah, it’s just another fight. It’s a five-rounder. I was prepping for a five-rounder. Now I’m fighting the best guy in a five-rounder. I put all the work in. It’s the toughest fight of my life.”
The credit has bounds, however. Della Maddalena does not endorse Muhammad’s (potentially joking) claim his boxing is like that of Canelo Alvarez.
“Honestly, no,” Muhammad said. “I don’t really see the resemblance in the ‘Canelo hands.’ He does have good hands. But if you’re talking skill-wise, I don’t see the resemblance. Maybe I’m missing something. … Good on him. Obviously, he’s proven he’s the best at the moment. He’s won the belt. Yeah, but I think he’s good at mixing it up. His boxing is all right.”
