Jack Della Maddalena: Leon Edwards always fights like that, can't blame timing for Belal Muhammad title loss
Jack Della Maddalena disagrees with Leon Edwards' claim that timing impacted his performance against Belal Muhammad.
Edwards (21-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC) lost his welterweight title to Muhammad at UFC 304 this past July. Their main event title fight took place in the middle of the night to cater to U.S. pay-per-view time, which Edwards says had him feeling tired and lethargic.
Della Maddalena thinks Edwards is discrediting Muhammad's (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) performance.
'In my opinion, I feel like Leon has always fought like that, so just to blame the timing, I don't think, is fair on Belal's part,' Della Maddalena told The MacLife. 'I think Leon has shown that he's happy sort of not do too much, use his precise striking just to sit back, and I think Belal pulled off the perfect game plan just to push the pace, grab a hold of him, make it a bit more ugly.'
Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) meets Edwards on March 22 in the UFC Fight Night 255 headliner from The O2 in London (ESPN+). He will look to employ a similar suffocating game plan as Muhammad's.
'That would be my plan: Put him up against the cage, build upon a pace, keep pushing the pace and try to make it ugly,' Della Maddalena said. 'I think it's a good game plan for me, and I'm going to go in there and use the blueprint to try and do what Belal did. I'm not going to try and grab ahold of Leon. I'm just going to be trying to just get in the pocket and land big shots and try to beat him down.'
The 28-year-old rising contender hasn't competed since rallying to knock out Gilbert Burns at UFC 299 last March, and looks to pick up right where he left off.
'(I had) a bit of a layoff, start of the year, prior to a title fight, I think it's the perfect opportunity, perfect time,' Della Maddalena said. 'Fighting a former champion, five rounds, I think it's just going to set up a big year.'
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC Fight Night 255.
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