Ring IV: Night of Champions | Sunday 23 Nov from 10am AEDT | Ring IV: Night of Champions takes Riyadh by storm, with WBC light heavyweight king David Benavidez facing Anthony Yarde. Also featured is a WBO welterweight tie between Brian Norman Jr. and Devin Haney. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n The Perth product simply had no answers for Makhachev who dominated with his suffocating wrestling onslaught for the majority of the five-rounder.<\/p>\n In a statement posted on Monday, Della Maddalena\u2019s head coach Ben Vickers spoke about the title fight and praised his fighter for \u2018daring to dream\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI am more proud of Jack and the team today than ever before,\u201d Vickers wrote on his gym\u2019s Instagram page.<\/p>\n \u201cTrue, we didn\u2019t get the marbles but we dared to dream and took our shot. It hurts. It hurts like hell but we aren\u2019t defined by this sport it\u2019s just what we love to do.<\/p>\n Russia’s Islam Makhachev, top, grapples with Australia’s Jack Della Maddalena, bottom, during the fourth round of a welterweight title bout at the UFC 322 mixed martial arts event, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)Source: AP<\/p>\n \u201cWe have felt all the support and love over the last couple weeks and decades and it means the world. I love Jack and the Team and I love Scrappy MMA and our community. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll see you all on the mats as soon as I\u2019m back in glorious P Town. And rest assured, this is the beginning not the end!\u201d<\/p>\n The defeat to Makhachev was JDM\u2019s first professional defeat since 2016, ending an 18-fight win streak and his brief title reign.<\/p>\n Before the fight, he believed he had the tools to match Makhachev in the grappling exchanges, but the new champ quickly showed the gap was wider than expected.<\/p>\n Della Maddalena spent more than 18 minutes of the 25-minute fight on the canvas being dominated by the Russian, and he looked absolutely crushed afterwards towards the end.<\/p>\n \u201cHe [Islam Makhachev] didn\u2019t just beat Jack Della, he didn\u2019t just dominate Jack Della,\u201d said MMA reporter Ariel Helwani on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cLook at Jack going into the fight. It was the closest we have seen to the reincarnation of Nick Diaz.<\/p>\n \u201cThat face-off on Thursday got me so hyped for this fight. The way he was standing, the way he was flexing. Jack Della is that guy.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think less of Jack Della on this Monday as a result of what happened on that Saturday. He is that good, he is that tough.<\/p>\n \u201cThe guy we saw at the beginning who was introduced by Bruce Buffer was not the same guy we saw at the end of the 4th [round], beginning of the 5th, end of the 5th.<\/p>\n \u201cEven his corner were saying to him, in so many words, \u2018You\u2019re broken! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Stop looking down!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cHis body language, his face, [it] told the whole picture. Islam Makhachev broke him mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 15: Jack Della Maddalena of Australia looks on prior to a welterweight title bout against Islam Makhachev during UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2025 in New York City. Ishika Samant\/Getty Images\/AFP (Photo by Ishika Samant \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n Many people noticed how different JDM looked towards the end of the fight, including UFC commentator John Anik, who said: \u201cHe looks listless. I\u2019ve never seen that look on Jack Della Maddalena\u2019s face before\u201d.<\/p>\n Conor McGregor\u2019s head coach John Kavanagh told Helwani that he was very impressed by Makhachev\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was incredible to be able to do that against somebody so good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s a big jump [in weight]. 145 to 155 is ten pounds, but going 155 to 170 is 15 pounds…<\/p>\n \u201cI was actually out with Jack last night, and he\u2019s a big unit, and he said himself that he was shocked by [Islam\u2019s power].\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, while \u2018Della\u2019 was battling Belal Muhammad at UFC 315, Vickers delivered one of the greatest motivational speeches in the history of MMA.<\/p>\n \u201cAlright, listen. You\u2019re five minutes away from being world champ,\u201d Vickers told Della Maddalena before the fifth round.<\/p>\n \u201cStay focused, on the cage, just disengage, let\u2019s not get back involved. Stay on the jab, busy on the jab, move your feet, never static.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s so tired, make him chase you a bit, make him miss and ping him. You are not f***ing tired, alright.<\/p>\n \u201cFive minutes to realise all your f***ing dreams! Let\u2019s go. Safety first, stay focused and keep pinging the c**t!\u201d<\/p>\n Islam mauls JDM with relentless control | 02:57<\/p>\n Della Maddalena took the message on board, stayed composed and delivered a dominant final five minutes to win the championship belt.<\/p>\n Despite the loss to Makhachev, Della Maddalena remains one of the elite welterweights in the UFC and is expected to stay firmly in the title mix once the dust settles on his brutal night in New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Della Maddalena\u2019s coach has released an emotional message in the wake of the Aussie star\u2019s crushing UFC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-291653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763321169_134_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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