Jack Della Maddalena cemented his position as a top welterweight contender at UFC 299 by knocking out Gilbert Burns in a tough back-and-forth war. Not only did Della Maddalena dig deep to earn the late third round stoppage, he did it with a badly broken arm.
In a new interview with ESPN, the Australian contender revealed he wasn’t sure when the arm broke, and he certainly didn’t realize it was a full bone break during the fight.
“I felt not necessarily that it was broken, but I just felt that my grip had just gone, I couldn’t really grip anything,” Della Maddalena said. “But I thought it may have just been a solid bruise. Definitely some of those kicks, they were solid thuds and I took ‘em right on the forearm, so I definitely knew my forearm had been bruised at least. But I didn’t know it was that bad.”
March 10, 2024
Rakhmonov’s ice cold response to the call out has only fueled fans’ desire to see the Della Maddalena match-up. While he hasn’t heard anything official from the UFC, “JDM” thinks it may finally come together.
“I think they know it’s inevitable, to be honest, and I think they’re trying to make it at the right time,” he said. “And my thoughts are this is the right time. I reckon it’s the biggest title elimination fight to go down in UFC. [Shavkat’s response] was great, he’s perfect. I feel like he’s a James Bond villain, so I’m happy to be James Bond and I thought that was the perfect response from him. I don’t know how this thing works, but I think it’s on.”
“I’ve seen that he wanted to fight early August, he’s carrying an injury, I’m carrying an injury, I’m good to go early August, so August sometime. Mid-August, maybe down this side of the world? Who knows.”
