Two weeks out from his second fight of 2020—it doubles asAustralia’s first stadium show since the coronavirus pandemicforced gyms to close their doors and banned live sportingevents—JackDella Maddalena personifies calm. Having recently finished hisSaturday morning workout, he enjoys the lack of restrictions inWestern Australia that have left him “free to roam.” The ScrappyMMA export arrives at our interview via Zoom with a big smile andan energy that can only be described as infectious.
It makes sense that Della Maddalena, Eternal MMA’s longest reigningwelterweight champion, is so happy. Riding an eight-fight winningstreak and boasting a 100 percent finishing rate, he will soon getthe opportunity to even the score against the man who handed himhis first loss, as he faces Aldin Batesat EternalMMA 53 rematch on Oct. 10. Theirs is a rematch four and a halfyears in the making, and if Della Maddalena can get past Bates, hisprofessional record will sit at a cool 9-2 and he will be withinstriking distance of the top ranking in the Australia-New Zealand region. If he can getone more win under his belt after that, he is setting his sights onflying the coop and joining the international circuit, preferablywith the likes of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
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“I think the whole COVID scenario really helped with this rematch,”Della Maddalena said. “[Bates] hasn’t been too active; he’s had acouple of fights here and there, couple of wins and maybe a loss.He’s from Perth, though, so we don’t need to travel [to competeagainst each other]. Eternal can’t bring anyone interstate. Thechoice is basically fight someone locally or don’t fight at all.There’s this local guy that’s beaten me, so how could I say know tothat? Normally, [Eternal matchmakers] just approach me with thechallenger and I say yes. I’m happy to fight anybody to be honest.I actually wanted to fight KittCampbell. In my opinion, he’s the best welterweight in Australia. I’m not taking myselfout of the picture, because I think I’m better than him, but froman outside perspective, I think he’s the number one. That was mypre-COVID plan—to get down to Melbourne and fight him and secure myspot at the top. That’s on the backburner now.
“I don’t know what their plan is now,” he added, “but in themeantime, someone local has beaten me. I have to go after him. As acompetitor, getting a victory back is so important. It will begreat if I can get it back.”
Della Maddalena has grown accustomed to the lifestyle of aprofessional athlete. Having turned pro in 2016 after just asix-month stint as an amateur, he has quickly become one ofAustralia’s most promising prospects. He picked up the 170-poundtitle back in March 2018 with a second-round technical knockout ofLukeHoward and has defended it three times. Since his last titlefight, where he stopped longstanding rival Luke Pettigrew for asecond time, Della Maddalena has signed a management deal withParadigmSports Management—the same agency which represents IsraelAdesanya and ConorMcGregor.
Despite his considerable success, Della Maddalena had to navigatesome adversity, as he lost his first two professional bouts: a TKOto the aforementioned Bates followed by a first-round submission toDarcyVendy. Reflecting on the setbacks and whether he could have alonger amateur career, Della Maddalena remains comfortable with thechoices he has made and believes the taste of defeat has ultimatelybeen a blessing in disguise.
“[The reason I went pro so quickly] was just the lack of fights,”he said. “I had a couple of amateur bouts, and then at that point,there weren’t many other locals I could fight. There were some proguys at my weight, and I figured I might as well jump in. At theend of the day, it’s the same thing. I wasn’t any more scared ofcompeting as a pro. Either way, you’re fighting someone. The time,length, a couple of rules are different, but that’s fine. If therewas a good amateur circuit, I wouldn’t have rushed into turningprofessional, but there wasn’t, so here we are.”
Maddalena claims to have learned from his missteps.
“In general, I don’t like losing,” he said. “I was prettydevastated. My coach wasn’t at the [Vendy] fight, and I remembercalling him afterwards. He said, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get theselosses out of the way, and then we’ll get to 10-2. It’s prettyclose now. It’s hard. Obviously, losing is not easy, but if it’ssomething you want to do, you just have to keep learning and moveon. It worked out well for me, I think. I think if I won those[first two pro fights], I would’ve thought I was great and I maynot have been motivated to learn and get better. If I went in thereand beat those guys in the first round, I feel like I would havehad a big head and would be waiting for a loss.”
When talking to Della Maddalena, it can be easy to forget that heis only 24 years old and that his journey did not commence all thatlong ago. Having originally been an avid rugby player with hisbrother JoshDella Maddalena—a fellow fighter who also competes as awelterweight on the Australian regional scene—they were known toengage in the “full contact” part of the sport, both on and off thefield. The backyard scraps and wrestling matches eventually evolvedinto sparring at the local boxing and MMA gyms, and by the time hewas finished with high school, Della Maddalena focused his fullattention on fighting, a transition that was greased by watchinghours upon hours of UFC and Pride Fighting Championships bouts onYouTube.
“Pretty much my whole early childhood was rugby, and just being inthat competitive environment,” Della Maddalena said. “It’s prettyfull-on as a full-contact sport. You’re trying to tackle peopleevery single Saturday and then again in training. Me and mybrother, who’s two years older … we always used to wrestle eachother and fight each other at home. We were always fighting, whichusually meant I would get beat up. Eventually, we started training.We had a tackle bag. He would put on gloves and punch it, and Iwould try and punch and kick it.
“We joined the gym when we were playing rugby,” he added. “Prettymuch as soon as I’d done some boxing, I realized I wanted to joinan MMA gym, and as soon as I started MMA, I realized, ‘This issweet.’ Some nights we’d go from rugby training straight tojiu-jitsu or kickboxing class, and then eventually, when I leftschool, the whole team thing wasn’t really there at club rugby; andthe main thing I enjoyed about rugby was the sick team you were apart of [and] having each other’s backs. When that was no longerthere, I left and put my full-time attention on MMA.”
The rest, Della Maddalena says, is history. Having taken afull-time job with his father at the debt-financing company KeyFactors and spending the lion’s share of his mornings and eveningsin the gym since then, his life—like that of many fighters—isoriented around three things: work, training and family.
“Because I work in the office, even though I work all day, I stillhave the energy to train at night,” Maddalena said. “It’s not likea trade. A lot of the people I know do trades. It’s hard spendingthe day digging holes, then going [to training] to fight someone.I’m super lucky to work in an office, I think, just for the energylevel. I sit there all day twiddling my thumbs ready to train.There’s a lot of other people who have to work a lot harder. A dayin my life is [still] pretty busy. I’ve got a partner, mygirlfriend. I normally get up early and train at around 5 a.m. I’llgo for a run or do some skipping, something to get a sweat on,because I’ll be sitting down in the office from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30p.m.
“So I work out, go to work, then it’s pretty much come home, eatsome food, then go to the gym for a couple hours,” he added.“That’s my life during the week. Occasionally, I’ll take a nightoff and spend it with the girlfriend cooking or something. Also,when I get closer to a fight, I tend to spend less time at the gym.I’ll get in like an hour of hard work. I don’t feel like you getmuch better when you’re training for a fight; it’s just getting thetiming right, fitness, that sort of thing.”
Between now and his latest title defense, there is not much leftfor Della Maddalena to do but wait until his name gets called,until he makes the walk, until the main event in Australia’s firstpost-coronavirus stadium show kicks off. Eternal MMA 53 will stream live to UFCFight Pass will stream live to UFC Fight Pass. In typicalunderstated fashion, Della Maddalena remains cool, calm andcollected.
“I honestly haven’t really thought about it to tell you the truth”he said. “It is cool, though. I think a lot of people will be keento watch some fights. They’ll be excited for some action.”
