UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena isn\u2019t in the business of turning down fights.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why when the UFC came calling with Islam Makhachev as his next opponent, he didn\u2019t blink. Despite having no previous experience at 170 pounds, Makhachev\u2019s career accomplishments are many, but even more important than that was Della Maddalena\u2019s willingness to face anyone and everyone the UFC threw at him.<\/p>\n
If he\u2019s successful in his first title defense at UFC 322, the 29-year-old Australian has a long list of potential contenders awaiting him. One name that has seemingly fallen out of the race is Shavkat Rakhmonov, who hasn\u2019t been seen since a win over Ian Machado Garry in 2024.<\/p>\n
While he\u2019ll gladly face Rakhmonov if that\u2019s what the UFC wants, Della Maddalena believes new contenders have emerged in his absence and the best ability to get a title shot oftentimes comes down to availability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to tell,\u201d Della Maddalena told MMA Fighting when asked about Rakhmonov\u2019s status as the No. 1 contender in the division. \u201cI think the division has moved on. If you stay inactive, you kind of fall behind. I think that\u2019s where it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone like Sean Brady has been so active, Ian Garry, these guys are very active. How can Shavkat stay in that top position when these guys are fighting guys? It\u2019s a hard one but I\u2019ll just do whatever I\u2019m told. Whoever\u2019s next is who the UFC tells me is next.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the same night Della Maddalena defends his title for the first time, Sean Brady takes on Michael Morales in a featured fight that could potentially put the winner on track for a shot at the belt.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Garry is slated to face former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad in the UFC Qatar main event just one week after Della Maddalena\u2019s fight.<\/p>\n
Toss in another former champion like Kamaru Usman, who recently dispatched Joaquin Buckley in dominant fashion, and the list gets even longer when it comes to who could receive the next crack at the title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the next few weeks is a good time for the welterweights,\u201d Della Maddalena said. \u201cIt\u2019s all the top guys are fighting each other. The next few weeks, we\u2019re going to see who in the top 5, they\u2019ll all pretty much lay out the order of who\u2019s next. It\u2019s exciting who the top contenders are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Considering everything that\u2019s happening at welterweight, Rakhmonov might get left out in the cold for the time being, although if he\u2019s able to return in early 2026 and pick up another win that might change the narrative.<\/p>\n
For now, Della Maddalena agrees that staying active bodes well for everybody else vying for a title shot, which is exactly how he earned his opportunity when Rakhmonov was supposed to face Muhammad back in May but couldn\u2019t accept the fight due to an injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think activity is key,\u201d Della Maddalena said. \u201cYou sit on the sidelines too long, you definitely fall behind.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena isn\u2019t in the business of turning down fights. That\u2019s why when the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-280707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}