Australian Jack Della Maddalena says he’ll be targeting a “headline finish” when he fights Warlley Alves at UFC 270 in January next year.
Della Maddalena (10-2), who earned his way onto the UFC roster after a unanimous decision win over Ange Loosa as part of Dana White’s Contender Series, is stoked to have been given a fight on the first big card of the new year, headlined by the heavyweight clash between Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane.
And having dominated his contest with Loosa, the Australian says Alves (14-5) represents the perfect first-up opponent despite the Brazilian’s vast experience, which runs to a 7-5 UFC record and a win over American Colby Covington to boot.
“I couldn’t really ask for a better first opponent in the UFC, someone who’s been around the game for a long time and someone whose experience levels are as good as you’re going to get,” Della Maddalena told ESPN.
“I think he’s been in the UFC for as long as I’ve had my professional record for. So I couldn’t have asked for a better opponent, and I can’t wait to have a fight with him. I think it should be an exciting, fun fight.”
Della Maddalena says he is preparing for a potentially explosive start to the fight, while also being wary of the Brazilian’s kickboxing ability.
“By looking at his fights, you don’t know quite what’s going to happen, but he’s definitely an aggressive striker,” Della Maddalena said. “He’s got that nice Brazilian kick-boxing style and I think he’s going to come out and be ready to fight me and try and kick my head off.
“So I’ll obviously be careful in there because anyone can take you out but I think the style matches up perfectly and I’ll definitely be in there trying to get that highlight finish.”
While Della Maddalena endured a tiresome journey back to Australia following his win over Loosa, he still raved about the Contender experience and the opportunity to see first-hand how a UFC event was run.
He says he had only a brief conversation with White, but that the UFC President had been impressed with his victory, which obviously then resulted in a position on the company’s roster.
But the Australian and his team have also picked apart the performance and identified a few holes he will look to plug before facing off with Alves come Jan. 22 in Anaheim, California.
“Technical stuff, there’s just a couple of small things that we can add to the game,” Della Maddalena explained. “Just going the three rounds was important and there were some points in the fight when I was a little bit lazy, just in the grappling department; I was just a little bit too lackadaisical.
“So there’s some small stuff that we’ve picked up on that I’m going to work on, but I’m definitely going to come in a new and improved fighter in January.”