Islam Makhachev Details the Moment He Knew Jack Della Maddalena Was in Trouble: “That’s when I understood he was going to be there for a long time”
Islam Makhachev recently shared his thoughts on Jack Della Maddalena’s underwhelming performance against him. JDM’ lost his welterweight title to Makhachev at UFC 322.
The bout was a one-sided affair, and the 34-year-old made it look easy by securing a total control time of more than 19 minutes.
Della Maddalena’s reach and superior striking were neutralized, and the Australian was taken down for the first time in the second minute of the first frame. The following rounds followed a similar pattern, and although Della Maddalena did enough to avoid being submitted by the Russian fighter, he offered no offensive threat.
Islam Makhachev reflects on his grappling dominance over Jack Della Maddalena
Islam Makhachev reflected on his grappling dominance over Jack Della Maddalena in a recent interview with Match TV, explaining that keeping ‘JDM’ grounded was straightforward.
According to Makhachev, Della Maddalena relied on the same reversal attempt every time he tried to get back to his feet, which made it easy for the P4P king to anticipate and shut it down, having already prepared for that exact counter, as ‘JDM’ had done the same when he dethroned Makhachev’s friend and training partner Belal Muhammad at UFC 315.
Islam Makhachev said:
“Before me he fought Belal, who also has strong wrestling. Belal was taking him down, and Maddalena was good at getting back up after takedowns. But he’d always get up using the same move, the same reversal. When I took him down and saw him try that same reversal on me, I was already prepared for it and defended it. That’s when I realized he had nothing else besides that move. I said to myself: ‘That’s it? You haven’t learned anything else? You don’t have any other skills to get back to your feet?’ That’s when I understood he was going to be there for a long time.”
Check out Islam Makhachev’s comment below:
Makhachev is expected to return to the octagon after Ramadan 2026 for the first defense of his welterweight championship. Among potential opponents are Carlos Prates, Michael Morales, Ian Machado Garry, and Kamaru Usman.
