Don Madge is a promising prospect, but he’s having a hard time fulfilling his potential.
Madge’s results in the cage speak for themselves, as the young South African is on a six-fight winning streak and has won his first two UFC fights.
But that’s just it: Since joining the roster in early 2018, Madge (9-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has fought only twice. The inactivity has been out of his control.
“Honestly, I don’t get offered any (fights),” Madge told MMA Junkie. “We were only just on the brink recently of booking something, but then the whole virus thing shut everything down. I had been asking since October to fight on the London card (before the virus), and I was met with dead silence. I know there’s clearly an issue. I’m not sure what it is, but it seems a bit unfair. However, I’m just keeping my head down and working so when the opportunity arises I will be ready.”
The former EFC lightweight champion fancies the UFC 251 card that is scheduled on June 6 in Perth, Australia, mentioning City Kickboxing’s Brad Riddell as an opponent he’d like to face.
“Honestly, I’ve never been to Australia and thought it would be awesome to fight somewhere new and meet new cultures and fans,” Madge said. “Brad Riddell is a guy I know and have trained with. I suggested him just because he’s hot on the scene with a bit of hype around him, and it seemed to make sense. He’s not specifically someone I had my eyes on, but (it) just made sense if it was in Perth that I’d fight someone from that region with a bit of hype around him.”
Riddell has impressed in his first two octagon appearances, and Madge likes the stylistic matchup with the former kickboxing champion.
“Exciting for sure,” Madge said. “He likes to stand and trade, so do I, which is why I think it would be a fun matchup.”
With the ever-growing popularity of the sport in Africa, and two recently crowned champions in Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman, Madge thinks South Africa would be the perfect country to host the first UFC event in Africa.
But he jokes that somehow he wouldn’t be on it.
“South Africa has played host to the FIFA World Cup. I definitely believe we are more than capable of hosting a big event,” Madge said. “We have a local promotion here (EFC) that has events every month with thousands of people. The way it’s going so far, they’ll come here to put on an event and probably won’t even put me on the card.”
Don Madge frustrated, perplexed by UFC's lack of fights offered
