“Belal, he brings always a very good forward pressure. He’s very aggressive. Jack is very resilient. A lot of opponents that Jack has faced they got tired because they tried to finish him. But he’s very durable and he always comes back later. However, with Belal, it’s going to be very hard because Belal doesn’t get tired. So I think the odds favour Belal to win this fight,” said Georges St-Pierre ahead of the UFC 315 mega clash between the former welterweight champ Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena.
But what followed was anything but in the Palestinian-American’s favor. It took the Aussie five grueling rounds and a savage battering of Muhammad, ripping his lip apart, to snatch the title in what was a slugfest. For St-Pierre, Muhammad was a fighter who could pressure his opponents to the point where they would eventually break. We saw this game plan in action during Muhammad’s fight against Leon Edwards at UFC 304. However, Della Maddalena was a different story.
But here’s the twist: Did the consensus welterweight GOAT play both sides? According to the new champ’s coach, Ben Vickers, the Canadian legend may have said one thing publicly while quietly backing the Aussie behind the scenes. According to Vickers, a recent incident—at least in his eyes—clearly showed that GSP had passed the torch to the Aussie.
“I will finish on this. Just before we were about to walk out, we were in the changing rooms, and GSP walks in. GSP had been cornering Aiemann Zahabi, and he was covered in blood. We had a shower in our area, so he came in, washed himself off, and then came out. He was just sitting down, putting his shoes on, while Jack was shadowboxing,” said Ben Vickers.
He further added, “We had a little chat, and then he walked over and shook Jack’s hand. Jack’s in all his fight mode, and GSP—he’s just, like, smart stuff—to go and watch the main event. And as they shook hands, to me, there was this little thing that went off in my head. I went, ‘Wow… he just literally passed the torch of the GOAT of the welterweight division—in his home city, in his stadium, where he did it all.’ It felt to me like a seminal moment—like he passed the torch over to Jack.”
This is certainly some elite endorsement from the man who still holds many of the undisputed records at 170lbs. With the Montreal PPV in the rear view mirror, the Aussie should be wary of his welterweight reign, as lightweight king Islam Makhachev is coming in with all guns blazing to snatch the belt from the Aussie— and interestingly, he already has a game plan in place.
Jack Della Maddalena is alerted by a former UFC fighter against Islam Makhachev
Since UFC 315, a lot has happened within the Dana White-led promotion. For instance, Islam Makhachev has relinquished his lightweight title, and now Ilia Topuria is set to clash with former champion Charles Oliveira for the vacant belt at UFC 317. But why did Makhachev vacate his title? Well, that’s due to the fact that he wanted to clash against Jack Della Maddalena for the 170-pound title. The Dagestani has always been dreaming about a second title, and this appears to be his chance to take on the champ to win the 170 lbs gold, but does he have a game plan?
Jumping from one division to another is no joke. We saw what happened to Alexander Volkanovski when he moved up to lightweight to face Makhachev. So, can we expect something similar from the Dagestani? Well, it’s too soon to say, but UFC veteran Josh Thompson believes that Makhachev would certainly do something similar to what he did to Charles Oliveira at UFC 280, “Even JDM thinks ‘He’s [Makhachev] going to take me down and submit me,” said Thompson on Weighing In Podcast.
He further added, “That’s what I think! I’m not trying to knock JDM. I’m simply saying I think he [Makhachev] is going to take the same approach he took with Charles Oliveira. He’s going to stand with him a little bit because he’s not just going to rush in and try and shoot the take down…He’s going to touch him a little bit, see if he can land something, that southpaw headkick is there.”
Jack Della Maddalena’s strength clearly lies in his striking. However, when it comes to wrestling, he has often struggled. That said, we did see an impressive display of takedown defense against Belal Muhammad, which raises an interesting question: Would Makhachev have to put in real work to get him down? Certainly. But just how much effort that would take remains to be seen. What are your thoughts on the buzz surrounding this potential matchup? Share your opinions in the comments below.
The post Coach Narrates How Georges St-Pierre Passed the Welterweight GOAT Torch to Jack Della Maddalena Moments Before UFC 315 appeared first on EssentiallySports.
