Ben Vickers, the coach of Jack Della Maddalena, believes Islam Makhachev will be an easier fight than Belal Muhammad was.

Della Maddalena is set to defend his welterweight title for the first time when he takes on Makhachev. Della Maddalena is coming off a decision win over Muhammad earlier this year to become the welterweight champion.

Ahead of his title defense against Makhachev at UFC 322, he is a sizable betting underdog. Yet, Vickers doesn’t understand why, as he believes Muhammad was a tougher fight.

“I like the matchup, I really do,” Vickers told Southern Cross Combat (via MMAFighting). “I think it might actually be a bit easier than the Belal fight, just given the styles and that. Belal’s a bit more unorthodox, so a bit harder to cope with whereas Islam’s a more traditional sort of striker. Obviously, a slightly smaller guy and I don’t doubt that he’s going to put the weight on.

“There’s two ways it could go. Does not having to cut weight help him or does carrying that extra weight hinder his cardio? We don’t know how that’s going to play out yet. He’s obviously never fought at ‘70 as a competitive fighter, I don’t think, so it’s going to be his first time stepping up a weight class, in a title fight, doing five rounds with the champ. It’s a tough ask for Islam and I understand that his body of work and the way that he’s sort of dispatched with everyone of late makes him the favorite, but I really think Jack’s going to have a good time in this fight.”

Islam Makhachev is not on Jack Della Maddalena’s ‘striking level’

Although Ben Vickers does believe Islam Makhachev poses a lot of threats with his grappling, he’s confident Jack Della Maddalena will be able to keep it standing.

But the other big reason why he’s so confident is due to the fact that he believes Della Maddalena is a level above Makhachev on the feet.

“(Makhachev is) a good striker, but I feel like he’s a learning striker,” Vickers said. “I feel like he’s not as fluent as his grappling is. I feel like it’s not his preferred thing, and I feel like he doesn’t have extreme comfort there just yet. He’s definitely a good striker, but he’s definitely not on Jack’s level when it comes to striking.”

Della Maddalena vs. Makhachev is set to headline UFC 322 on Nov. 15 from Madison Square Garden.