Aussie hero Jack della Maddalena makes brave callout after stunning welterweight title win

Jack della Maddalena has become just the third Australian UFC champion, and already has his sights set on a revenge mission.

For the first time ever, Australia has two UFC champions after Jack della Maddalena won a fight of the year contender for the welterweight belt against Belal Muhammad.

The Perth fighter’s unanimous decision win in a wild slugfest at UFC 315 in Montreal, sees him join featherweight kingpin Alex Volkanovski as current UFC champions from Down Under, while Robert Whittaker is the former middleweight titleholder.

“Australia, we’ve got three of these babies, let’s go!” a fired-up della Maddalena said moments after his hand was raised.

Ruled out for 14 months after breaking his arm in a win over Gilbert Burns last year, della Maddalena was a class above for the opening three rounds, before Muhammad staged a comeback in the fourth frame.

Della Maddalena was a class above. Picture: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Both men ended the five round scrap covered in blood and badly bruised before Della Maddalena won with scores of 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46.

“It’s exactly how I thought it would feel. It feels f***ing good!” Della Maddalena said. “He brings the pressure, I knew I had to be smart on my feet.

“Coming in there with someone like Belal with that pressure wrestling, I had to be smart.

“I couldn’t spend too much time on my back.

“I wanted to take him out. I wanted the finish, but Belal’s a tough dude, he’s not easy to put away.”

Now 8-0 in the UFC, della Maddalena will likely make his first welterweight title defence against lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

Makhachev has two lightweight title fight wins over Volkanovski, but ‘Della’ vowed to gain vengeance when they step into the cage.

“I think it’s a beautiful challenge,” he said. “He’s pound for pound number one.

“I’m going to get him back for Volk.”

JDM joins Alex Volkanovski and Robert Whittaker as Aussie UFC champions. Picture: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Makhachev seemingly agreed to the fight, Tweeting: “Time to become a double champion. Let’s go,” just moments after Della Maddalena’s callout.

The stance-switching Della Maddalena controlled the pace early on, sticking his jab in Muhammad’s face, before landing a nice head-kick midway through the opening round.

A relentless wrestler, Muhammad tried just one first round takedown, which the Aussie defended well to stay on his feet. It quickly became the story of the fight.

In his first title defence since upsetting Leon Edwards, Muhammad ended the second round bleeding from the mouth, courtesy of a straight right hand.

Unable to wrestle, Muhammad tried to make it a firefight in the third, but Della Maddalena pieced him up even more with his cleaner striking.

Likely down three rounds to nothing, Muhammad stalked forward in the fourth, and backed della Maddalena up, before he finally landed a desperate takedown against the cage.

But as the crowd began chanting “JDM”, the 28-year-old escaped and regained his feet once more in undoubtedly the best performance of his career.

Della Maddalena will likely defend against Islam Makhachev. Picture: Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC

Della Maddalena landed a monstrous knee to Muhammad’s eye in the fifth, before the American finally landed a dominant takedown and top position.

But even then, drenched in Muhammad’s blood, JDM escaped, got back to his feet and nearly finished the champion with strikes.

Bloodied and bruised they fought to the bell in a wild final minute before Della Maddalena was announced as the UFC’s new welterweight champion.

Meanwhile, Aussie Rob Whittaker has landed a comeback fight after his first-round defeat to Khamzat Chimaev last year.

Whittaker will be going back to the scene of the crime in Abu Dhabi to take on another rising star Reinier de Ridder in a headline fight on July 26.

Whittaker hasn’t fought since suffering an injury to his mouth in his stunning early stoppage loss to Chimaev at UFC 308 in October.

Whittaker had been linked to a fight with Sean Strickland after the American’s middleweight title fight defeat to Dricus du Plessis in Sydney in February.

He will instead attempt to get back into championship contention against the 20-2 de Ridder, who shocked the MMA world by stopping highly touted Bo Nickal last weekend.

Originally published as Aussie hero Jack della Maddalena makes brave callout after stunning welterweight title win