Jack Della Maddalena has made it clear that he plans to avenge his countryman Alexander Volkanovski by facing Islam Makhachev in his first title defence.
Australian powerhouse Maddalena dethroned divisive champion Belal Muhammad in the main event of UFC 315 on Saturday night in Montreal to win the welterweight title. And he wasted no time in calling his shot for his first defence.
It had been established before the fight that should the Australian win, the lightweight champion would move up to challenge at 170lb. However, had Muhammad kept the belt, the pair’s friendship would have stopped them fighting and he likely would have faced Ilia Topuria instead.
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Jack Della Maddalena calls for revenge against Islam Makhachev
Following his unanimous decision win over Belal Muhammad, it took very little time for Jack Della Maddalena to begin working towards his first defence. While Islam Makhachev was long established as the potential opponent, he had to make his feelings clear.
And he noted that it was necessary for him to avenge the two defeats his countryman Alexander Volkanovski suffered at the lightweight champion’s hands. “It’s a beautiful challenge,” he told Daniel Cormier.
“[Islam] is pound-for-pound number one in the world and I’m going to get it back for Volk.” He is referencing the two times Volkanovski attempted to win lightweight gold from the Russian, the latter of which ended in a vicious knockout.
Islam Makhachev confirms welterweight move in social media post
Following the fight, it didn’t take long for Makhachev to make his feelings known. Not one to usually use social media much, the pound-for-pound number one took to X and Instagram to send a number of messages.
He sent a brief message to Muhammad, with whom he has trained regularly in the past. He simply wrote: “Head up champion.”
Prior to that, however, he sent a tweet towards Della Maddalena, noting that he was now pushing for another belt. “Time to become a double champion #inshaAllah,” he wrote to his nearly 720,000 followers. “Let’s go.”