Jack Della Maddalena vs. Kevin Holland booked as new Noche UFC co-headliner

Jack Della Maddalena won’t get birthday celebration home game he wanted at UFC 293 in September, but he will get a high profile fight just one week later.

Della Maddalena (16-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) will attempt to continue his unbeaten octagon start on Sept. 16 when he meets Kevin Holland (25-9 MMA, 11-6 UFC) in the welterweight co-main event of the inaugural Noche UFC event, which goes down at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

After the card lost its original co-headliner of Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Kelvin Gastelum, the promotion scrambled and found a new fight to have secondary billing under the women’s flyweight title headliner between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko.

Two people with knowledge of the situation told MMA Junkie of plans for the fight following an initial report from X user @Standemup. The people requested anonymity because the UFC has yet to make an official announcement.

Della Maddalena, 26, is No. 15 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie welterweight rankings. After starting his career 0-2, the Aussie has reeled off 15 consecutive victories, including five straight bouts under the UFC banner.

After finishing his first four opponents inside the octagon within the first round, Della Maddalena was tested by short-notice replacement Bassil Hafez at UFC on ESPN 49 in July, but managed to escape with a split decision win.

Now he’ll get a challenge in the form of an established name in No. 13-ranked Holland, who is 4-1 since he dropped to the welterweight division in March 2022 following a solid run in the middleweight division.

Holland, 30, is coming off arguably his most impressive UFC performance in the form of a first-round submission over Michael Chiesa at UFC 291 in July.

The latest Noche UFC lineup now includes:

• Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko – for women’s flyweight title
• Jack Della Maddalena vs. Kevin Holland
• Anthony Hernandez vs. Roman Kopylov
• Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Daniel Rodriguez
• Loopy Godinez vs. Sam Hughes
• Edgar Chairez vs. Daniel Lacerda
• Cynthia Calvillo vs. Elise Reed
• Tracy Cortez vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
• Christos Giagos vs. Daniel Zellhuber

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Noche UFC.