Jack Della Maddalena reveals he was battling staph infection heading into UFC 299

Jack Della Maddalena had quite a bit of adversity to deal with for UFC 299.

Della Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) broke his arm in the first round of his come-from-behind finish of Gilbert Burns at UFC 299 in Miami.

But that’s not the only thing the 27-year-old Aussie had to overcome.

“I had staph just heading into, just before we left,” Della Maddalena revealed on The Grin Reapers Podcast. “It was Wednesday the week before fight week, I was on antibiotics. I think it was like, really sore the weekend before.

“It had gotten quite a lot better, so I was thinking, ‘The antibiotics are obviously working.’ It was just like a little pimple on my knee. My knee swelled up. It was just painful. I just didn’t really train. Just chilled for the first four days we were there (in Miami).”

His coach Ben Vickers chimed in, saying Della Maddalena even had a hard time getting on his flight to Miami.

“Let’s be honest: You limped on to the plane with staph,” Vickers said. “He limped on to the plane on antibiotics the Wednesday before fight week. We’ve got guys pulling out of fights two weeks out with staph. Jack was never going to pull out. But unfortunately, we lost a week of training.”

After notching his seventh octagon win over former title challenger Burns, Della Maddalena wants undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov next.