Jack Della Maddalena Is Unconcerned By Criticism After Victory
The welterweight debut matchup between Della Maddalena (16-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) and Hafez (8-4-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) took place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Jack Della Maddalena, who defeated short-notice newcomer Bassil Hafez at UFC on ESPN 49, is unconcerned about people questioning his ability.
Jack Della Maddalena, who defeated short-notice newcomer Bassil Hafez at UFC on ESPN 49, is unconcerned about people questioning his ability.
The welterweight debut matchup between Jack Della Maddalena (16-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) and Hafez (8-4-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) took place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. An opponent who came in on short notice tested him to the limit, but he eventually emerged with the split decision victory to remain unblemished in the cage.
Though he believes he could have performed much better in the fight, he gave it his best effort after making weight for UFC 290 the previous week and having his fight booked at the last minute.
At the UFC on ESPN 49 post-fight news conference, Della Maddalena spoke with MMA Junkie and other media,
“It wasn’t my best performance, but it was a lot of fun.”
“I came in and it was a crazy three weeks, and at the end of the day just have to get out there and grit out a tough fight. It was a tough fight. That’s what I came out here for.”
Della Maddalena believes the judges made the correct decision, even though Hafez outperformed many expectations and performed brilliantly. Two judges gave him a score of 29-28, while the other gave him a 28-29.
“I thought I landed the bigger shots.”
“You never know. When I heard the split decision I thought it could go either way. The judges are always all over the place, but I felt like I landed the bigger shots. He was shooting pretty desperately. I feel like on top he didn’t do a whole lot of damage. I’ll look back on it and see. Glad to see my hand raised.”
Della Maddalena
In the wake of the fight, Della Maddalena made it apparent that he doesn’t give a damn about what others have to say about his abilities, but he does hope that someone out there finds a flaw.
The Australian would love nothing more than to fight Sean Brady (15-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC), whom he was initially scheduled to face at UFC 290 but rescheduled for UFC 293 on September 9 in Sydney.
“It’d be cool to do that fight; I think that was a great fight.”
“Hopefully he sees this and goes, ‘Yeah, I would love to go to Sydney.’… I’d take Sean Brady. That was a fight I really put work into. He’s a high-ranked guy.”
Della Maddalena
