UFC welterweight Jack Della Maddalena is not interested in cherry-picking any of his fights.
The former Eternal MMA champion has finished all but one of his professional wins and is eager to take on the division’s best. The likes of rising stars Sean O’Malley and Paddy Pimblett haven’t been initially keen on fighting ranked opposition without a pay raise, and while Maddalena (11-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) understands that approach, he doesn’t apply it to himself.
“It makes sense,” Maddalena told MMA Junkie. “If you aren’t that very confident in your own skills and you want to just take the slow route, then that’s fair enough. But I feel if you are confident in your skills and you do see yourself as someone that wants to compete with the best, I feel like you just take the best fights you can.
“But in saying that, everyone has a different route, and I can understand that route. Like you want to get paid more money for fighting better people, but I always feel that naturally the money will just come if you fight the better people, so I’ll probably just try and take it that route.”
Maddalena, who needed less than a round to dispatch Pete Rodriguez in his promotional debut at UFC 270, meets Ramazan Emeev on June 11 at UFC 275.
“I definitely do see it as a step up in competition,” Maddalena said. “And I feel like every fight is a step up in competition, I’m doing the right thing, so I’m just gonna keep that going.”
He continued, “I’m hoping after the Ramazan fight I can fight someone that’s gonna get me a top 15 opponent, which would be awesome, but hopefully just fight another tough fighter and just keep fighting tougher people every time is my goal.”
A proven finisher, Maddalena expects Emeev to try and wrestle him. The Russian fighter has gone the distance in all his UFC bouts, but Maddalena will look to punish him until he gets the finish.
“I think he’s got good striking,” Maddalena said. “He’s pretty well rounded, but I think he’s quite flat-footed in my opinion. I think he doesn’t move too much on his feet. He likes to stand there and sort of move his head and then lunge in, but yeah, he’s a good, well-rounded fighter. I expect a solid fight. …
“I’m prepared for a 15-minute battle absolutely, but I’m gonna try and damage him. I feel like the more his face is busted up throughout the fight, the better I’m doing. So that’s the plan. I’m gonna try and damage him from the get-go, and I’m prepared to go 15 minutes.”