Ben Vickers, the long-time coach of Australian UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena, has delivered an ominous message to challenger Islam Makhachev, declaring his fighter has reached his physical peak just in time for their historic showdown.
Australian Champion Faces Ultimate Test
The stage is set for what many are already calling the fight of the year as Della Maddalena makes his first title defence against the legendary Makhachev at UFC 322. The blockbuster event takes place at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York, with Western Australian fans tuning in during Sunday morning hours.
This marks a monumental moment for Australian combat sports, with Della Maddalena (18-2) putting his welterweight crown on the line against Makhachev (27-1), who vacated his lightweight championship to move up a division and challenge Western Australia's first-ever UFC champion.
Elite Training Camp Prepares Champion
Vickers revealed the champion's preparation has been revolutionised for this career-defining bout, with help from Australian combat sports royalty. Renowned Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Craig Jones and two-time UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski both joined the training camp specifically to help dethrone the Dagestani grappling specialist.
"To have these Australian combat sport legends come and help us because they want to and they want to get behind Jack, it leaves me a little bit speechless to be honest," Vickers told The West Australian. "Volk brings an energy. He's the G.O.A.T. And the knowledge of being in there with Islam twice, preparing for Islam twice and preparing for massive fights on a regular basis."
The coach, who has trained Della Maddalena since his teenage years at Scrappy MMA in Willetton, said this camp differed significantly from previous preparations.
Peak Performance Achieved
"It's been a really good camp, super interesting. It's been different to all his other camps if I'm honest," Vickers explained. "We changed it up a little bit this camp in terms of how we structured what he was doing. Craig has been in camp the whole time so there's been a strong grappling focus without losing focus on what our strengths are."
Vickers made the bold claim that for the first time in Della Maddalena's UFC career, the team has perfectly timed his peak performance. "I feel like for the first time we've properly brought Jack to his peak at the exact right time. I feel like every other fight we maybe have been holding him back a little bit getting towards the fight, whereas this time the last session was the best session."
The presence of Craig Jones proved particularly valuable given Makhachev's reputation as one of the most dominant grapplers in UFC history. While Della Maddalena is recognised as one of the sport's premier boxers, his takedown defence will face its ultimate test against the sambo world champion.
"We know what Islam's intentions are but for us it's more about implementing our own intentions and dealing with any problems along the way," Vickers stated. "We're not taking a different approach and waiting to try to see what he's going to do, we're going out there to do what we need to do and if he wants to try to put a stop to that plan, then it's going to hurt."
Vickers expressed confidence in his fighter's ability to secure a knockout victory, despite Makhachev's legendary durability. "This sport when guys are fighting for their legacy, like Belal proved, it's hard to put them away no matter how many times you bang them on the chin. But we're looking for the knockout and I fancy Jack getting it."
The team has prepared extensively for the likelihood of Makhachev attempting to ground the fight, employing what Vickers calls "comfort in discomfort" by repeatedly putting Della Maddalena in difficult positions during training.
"We've just put him in that position as many times as we can," Vickers explained. "In the Ramazan Emeev fight he found himself in an Anaconda early doors but he'd been in Anacondas the whole camp because we knew Emeev could do that. We put him in positions he doesn't want to be in when he's in his most tired state and if he can deal with it then – which he has all camp — then he can deal with it fresh with a damaged Islam."
As fight night approaches, all eyes turn to Madison Square Garden where Australia's champion stands ready to defend his crown against one of the sport's all-time greats.
