UFC 322 goes down this weekend from New York City and in the main event, Jack Della Maddelena meets Islam Makhachev in what promises to be an action-packed fight.
We take a look at what the champion, Jack Della Maddelena has to do to upset the odds, retain his belt and send Makhachev back to the lightweight division.
What Jack Della Maddelena has to do to beat Islam Makhachev: Tape Study
Critical Takedown Defence
In the words of Maddelena himself, he’s most dangerous when the fight is on its feet. With that being said, we know what Makhachev wants to do. Strike long enough to get the fight to the ground. So how does JDM prevent this?
Elbow takedown defence: get the elbow in, keep it tight, drive it into the neck, and make life difficult for the Russian. He did this against Belal Muhammad, however, has to be more aware of the trip takedowns of Makhachev. It acts as a ‘crash’ style of takedown defence. In the fight when he fought for the title, Maddelana was willing to ‘crash’ into Muhammad, preventing the then-champion from getting any takedown offence off. He met him at the point of contact and ‘crashed’ into Muhammad.
The elbow defence also prevents his opponents from getting their head to the side of his body, making the takedown more difficult and denying them the opportunity to drive their base. Note how tight the elbow is to his body to make his frame bigger.
In addition to this, he needs to use his size advantage. Jack Della Maddelena isn’t a small welterweight and with Makhachev being the man who is moving up in weight, there’s a good chance that JDM can utilise his size to his advantage when denying the takedown.
We know that the former lightweight champion is an outstanding wrestler, however, if the defending champion can force underhooks in the clinch, he can make life much harder for the challenger. Against Muhammad, Della Maddelena did a fantastic job of digging underhooks and shaking off the takedown attempts, going on to reverse the position. If he can do this against Makhachev, it’ll make life much easier for him in New York.
Della Maddelena on Offense
Although a lot of the emphasis on this fight will be on whether JDM can prevent the takedown of his foe, we can’t ignore the fact that he isn’t a back-foot fighter. He walks forward and brings the fight to his opponents every time.
Expect the jab to play a key part in this fight for the offence of JDM. If he can get the jab out there, in the face of Makhachev, there’s a good chance that this will lead to something bigger being landed for the champion.
He’s slightly taller and has a three inch reach advantage, meaning that he can likely land his jab and keep the Russian at range.
The champion also has to make Makhachev miss with his boxing and when he does, he needs to make him pay. Hit and don’t get hit, the art of boxing in a nutshell. He did this fantastically against Muhammad and was able to use his reactions and head movement to force the then champion into getting frustrated.
When switching stances in the boxing range, Maddelena must be careful not to be caught straight on by Makhachev. We saw towards the end of the first round against Gilbert Burns that JDM was taken down when he lazily switched stances, leading to him being forced to his back.
Whatever Jack Della Maddelena does, he’ll have to be at the top of his game against Makhachev in what promises to be the toughest fight of his life at UFC 322.
