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I'm Mike Boris and this is Straight Talk.
Jack Della Maddalena.
Welcome to Straight Talk, mate.
Thanks for having me.
Lift combination.
Roberts is in trouble and that'll do it.
You, that type of dude, like, fuck, I'm not going to stop.
You have to kill me to stop.
I always look at it as I try and just push a strong pace
and try and damage my opponent.
You're fighting what's in front of you.
I fight what's in front of me.
It might be risky.
I like to take the risk.
The opportunity presents itself.
You've got to take it.
There's some scary people in this division, but I'm f***ing scary.
There's some scary people in this division, but I'm f***ing scary.
Hey guys, Sam here from Mike Boris' team.
Before we jump into the episode, just a quick heads up.
This conversation was recorded back in February
while Jack was in Sydney for UFC 312
and before his championship fight with Bilal Mohamed was announced.
This episode is all about getting to know Jack,
who he is, his mindset, and his fighting style.
From all of us at Mentor, wishing him the very best this weekend.
Jack Della Maddalena.
Welcome to Straight Talk, mate.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, I love Perth.
Perth's one of my favourite places.
One of my favourite cities.
I used to live there.
One of the things, and you're a Perth boy.
One of the things is, you might explain to everybody,
the parochialism, the way Perth people,
or West Australians for that matter,
sort of consider themselves different to the rest of the country.
They love Australia, of course, but East versus West Coast,
And then with someone like you representing them,
they are so much behind you.
Can you just explain that?
The thought process of West Australians and how did you grow up in that environment?
Perth is a small sort of place and it's very isolated.
It's a five-hour journey just to come to the east side.
It's a quiet place, laid back.
And yeah, it's a small population, but it's a nice place.
We've got beautiful coastline, beautiful beaches,
and the people are very chill.
And I think Western Australians are very proud of Perth.
You know what, just along what Dana said to me this week,
fuck man, you've got sharks and fucking snakes
and everything else that can kill you and crocodiles
and all that sort of stuff.
But one of the things people don't realise is the Perth beaches,
while they're beautiful,
there's a lot of deaths over there from shark attacks.
Perth people, generally speaking, to me,
they're the real crocodile dundies of Australia.
I mean, Sydney's like a big metropolis, you know,
where like many other big city in the world.
And West Australia's definitely not as a state.
People in West Australia are laid back,
but they're also more representative of what,
like I think, what old school Australians were.
So tough bastards, farmers.
Yeah, do the thing, do your job.
Yeah, Perth compared to Sydney is like a little country town,
I would say, in comparison.
But yeah, it's a nice place, you know.
I think, yeah, some people might look at Perth from the outskirts
and not necessarily want to go there
because it's so, it is like a country.
But it's a, when you go there and you get into the lifestyle
and you get into the pace of Perth, I think people enjoy it.
I always said it's a great place to bring kids up.
You know, like it's, and it's a nice joint.
And the reason I'm sort of asking you this stuff, Jack,
is because I've heard you interviewed on it a number of times
and people talk about the, you know, the broken arm
and all that sort of stuff.
And you just basically say, you know, like,
I didn't really feel it, I didn't notice it,
my adrenaline kicked in, blah, blah, blah.
And you sort of dismiss it in a very modest way.
And they say, you know, I don't feel it.
And they say, you know, I've heard people say
this guy's the toughest bastard in the UFC.
You know, and that's a big call.
And I just wonder if it's sort of more to do
with you being a West Australian.
It's just, you know, like stuff happens, you know.
Like I'm sure there's blokes out there on big farms
which are probably a million acres, you know,
round up cattle and they fall off their horse
or they get stuck in the wire or in the fence or something
and they cut the shit out of themselves
and they just go back home and have steak and veg
and they just forget about it and get back on the horse tomorrow.
So, yeah, the mentality is just sort of get on with it.
I wish I could say, yeah, my arm was excruciating pain
and I had to fight through, but really I couldn't feel a thing, you know.
It really only set in after the fight.
But, yeah, Perth, that's sort of pretty laid back,
but everyone works hard, you know.
Everyone has, yeah, everyone's on task
and they do what they need to do
and then at the end of the day they sit back and relax and have a beer.
Yeah, that was my experience when I lived there back in the 80s.
Can I just ask you about your family?
Della Maddalena is an Italian-sounding surname.
Probably goes back a few generations for you.
Mum's, what's mum's background?
Yeah, Australia, Scotland.
I think mum's grandparents are all born, bred Australia, Scottish background.
Armstrong is my mum's last name.
Armstrong, that's mad.
Of all the things to be called Armstrong and broke your arm.
Yeah, Scottish name.
And your brothers.
Just as what's the deal with family?
Just their older brother, two years older.
So it was just the two of us.
And yeah, dad, my dad's dad, granddad came from Northern Italy
when I think he was 17, 18, just for a better life.
You know, I think he was born in 33.
So it wasn't the best time in Italy.
So he just sort of, yeah, looked for a better life.
And I think there was a boat heading to Australia and he thought,
I think there was heaps of bananas.
Like they had a lot of bananas.
He'd never had a banana before.
So I think that sold him to...
It's amazing how we get family stories about, you know,
and we don't know whether it's true or bullshit,
but there's a good story anyway to have.
And your brother, your older brother, growing up together.
I've read stuff where that you and he used to rip into each other
in the backyard and sort of like a typical couple of brothers
playing around with each other, boxing each other and stuff like that,
going toe to toe.
You know, dad was a mad rugby fan.
So he got us into rugby pretty young.
A rugby fan in Perth?
Yeah, pretty, yeah, not very usual.
Rugby union as well.
Not a massive following in Perth,
but there's a decent amount of rugby teams.
But yeah, he just sort of pushed us in that direction from a young age
and we just, we loved it.
Loved the physicality of it.
We were quite physical too when we could just train with each other.
So yeah, I love rugby.
But yeah, we would always get into it.
We loved sort of watching wrestling, a bit of we like watching boxing.
We just sort of, yeah, ripped into each other.
All the combat sports.
Just having fun, you know, two boys, Perth.
It's a quiet place.
So we just spent time with each other, just pushed each other.
So did you, can you tell me when you first started to learn either the box or judo?
I mean, what was the deal?
It was, yeah, rugby from a young age and then probably, I think I was 11 years old.
Like we were, me and my brother really started training together.
We had a tackle bag, but we, dad gave us boxing gloves when we were pretty young
and we just started, rather than tackling it, playing rugby,
we just started punching and kicking it, having that sort of thing.
And then I think I was 12 or 13, that sort of age.
We just got into a boxing gym, just loved watching martial arts,
found a boxing gym and then just really got into it.
Fell in love with the, the sort of like the combat sports at that age.
Did you ever like, did you go and have MMA fights?
No, just was in, I liked watching MMA and there was, wasn't many MMA gyms around,
but just got in there, just training with each other.
We were playing rugby pretty consistently.
So it was more just to supplement the rugby, a bit of extra fitness,
but never got into amateur fights.
Joined a MMA gym at probably 14 or 15 and then sort of just focused more on MMA.
So when was your first exposure to MMA as a, as a competitor then?
In Perth, they were a bit fun.
I had a, like an amateur interclub thing maybe when I was about 16 or 17.
But in Perth, they, at the time,
there was a ban on the cage.
They didn't allow the cage and it was hard to get fights below the age of 18.
So I just pretty much waited until I was 18 and then started competing.
And when did you realize this is my thing?
Like, were you doing something else by the way?
Were you doing like an apprenticeship or?
Just at school training, just at school at the time, just training.
And then, yeah, it took me a bit of time.
I didn't really ever think this was what I was going to, this was my career path.
It was just more enjoyment of the sport and the training.
And was it because your brother was doing it too?
Yeah, yeah, that was a big part.
I saw Josh into it and yeah, Josh, my brother was right into it.
And I just sort of kept, went along with him, just training.
And then when I saw him have a fight, then I was pretty hooked at that point.
So he had, he had a fight first?
He had a fight before me.
I think when he got to 18, he sort of had a fight and I was just watching, you know,
my dad would always be like, yeah, Josh, he fights.
And I was sort of like, well, I want to fight too.
How did you pick up by the UFC then?
Just watching MMA.
I think when I was young, I loved watching WWE.
My granddad was right into WWE.
So I just was, I was a pretty obsessed fan with WWE.
And then, yeah, it must've been that like early teens, 12, 13, I saw an MMA video,
realized that WWE sort of put it together then that like, this is actually real wrestling
and it actually looks more fun.
So at that point I was pretty hooked.
Did you, but did you, did you go on a contender series or something?
To get, sorry, when I was, yeah, I had 10, when I won nine fights, basically I got into
a contender series at the start of 2020 or the end of 2021, got on to contender series,
which is a great opportunity.
And what's, what's the deal so that, you know, I don't know if it's Dana himself, but someone
comes along and says, listen, Jack, you know, we're going to pull you up.
You're going to, you're going to get into, you're in the UFC now, you know, as a result
of being really, you know, impressing us.
So what did, what went through your head like, and where was this series by the way?
It was in Las Vegas.
So yeah, basically just won a fight, a local fight, and then got into talks with the matchmakers
and they said, we don't want to put you straight into the UFC, but here's the, we've got this
It's the contender series in Vegas.
You basically go, you fight in front of Dana and if he's thinks it's like the, what they
promote is like the, uh, the toughest job interview in the world.
You know, you go there, you put, you just give it your all.
And then if Dana thinks you've got potential, then he would give you the contract.
Do you have to do an interview?
Oh, I got interviewed after the fight.
Nah, it was just the media, media interview, but it was more, he just sat there, watched
I think he just bases it purely on a performance standpoint.
If you, if he thinks you've got what it takes.
So what do you reckon from, um, your point of view, from Jack's point of view, um, would
have impressed him?
Stand up, you know, like on the ground, where, where were you stronger?
Well, the fight, it, so it was a three round fight.
It was, uh, it was mainly striking, but then there was a few times where it hit the ground.
I was able to get back to my feet and then, yeah, it just sort of kept pushing.
I just kept pushing right up until the final bell, you know, even the last 10 seconds,
I was just giving it all, like throwing everything, but the kitchen sink at him basically.
And I think that's what he appreciated.
I got stuck in some bad positions and I was able to get out of them.
And I think, yeah, I think Dana liked that.
So, I mean, I, I mean, when you, you've been pretty modest, you know, so, but I mean, when
I've, I've watched some of your, I mean, I watched you in Perth, not last year, the year
before, obviously not last year, you missed out last year because you were having an operation,
but we had an operation, but the year before and, uh, and I, your style is that you're
sort of all over him, you know, like you're not letting anyone get a break, you know,
you're, you're throwing punches, whatever, you know, you're on, you're on the whole time.
Um, that seems to be a style to me.
Is that your personality?
I mean, are you that type of dude, like, fuck, I'm not going to stop you, you have to kill
I'm a, I'm a pretty calm person, but yeah, in the fight, I feel like getting in there,
you've just got to, I always look at it as, and my coach has already said, like, you've
got to damage the opponent and get on them and push the pace.
Like you don't have a long time in there, so you've just got to make things happen.
So yeah, that's what I try and just push a strong pace and try and damage my opponent.
I think you're one of those people, those type of fighters who you see an opportunity
in, in the moment, as opposed to planning it.
And you're ready to quickly, mentally to take the opportunity really quickly.
Are you, so you've got quick reflexes relative to what you see, what's in front of you?
I fight what's in front of me.
Take the, and yeah, I take the, even if it is, it might be risky, you know, I like to
take the risk to risk it for the biscuit, you know, for the opportunity presents itself.
I feel like you've got to take it.
Otherwise that opportunity is gone, you know, so.
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Yeah, I think there's going to be opportunities that I can push it and try and take them out.
Can you explain to all the non-professional fighters about when someone tries to take
you down, like in the shoot for you?
So if you're a good person, you're going to cop it.
Like, you know, if they're good at it and they put you on the ground, you're in trouble.
But there's also danger for them too.
That you might uppercut them or you could put a knee in, which you did.
For someone shooting in, their head's pretty low, so that uppercut out the middle or the
knee is the good shot.
Can be risky though.
If you miss, if the knee didn't land, then it would pretty much for sure he would get
So that's what I want to know, Jack.
Do you, would you go through like a quick analysis or do you, or you were so experienced?
Well, I've been through it.
I've been through it.
Alistair, you are so experienced, I know that I'm going to take the shot no matter what.
Yeah, I don't think, yeah, it was more just, yeah, as I said, just risk it.
You know, you've got to pull, on times like that, you've got to pull the trigger.
And the worst thing that would have happened, the knee wouldn't have landed,
he would have got a hold of me and I would have ended up on my back again,
which obviously isn't ideal, but the best thing that could have happened
is the knee lands flush and he goes down and he can't recover.
So during the period when you're physically recovering after,
because obviously there was a long process of recovery and a number of operations,
or a number of surgeries, et cetera, you had to have,
do you sort of sit around thinking, okay, my next opponent might be looking at me saying,
well, Jack likes to stand up and go hard for it, toe-to-toe nearly,
and will be all over me like a bad suit.
So I've got to somehow slow the game to takedowns, time on the floor,
Picking up points, basically.
And then you think to yourself, oh, shit, maybe I'd better ring someone up
and get some, I know you've got wrestling coaches anyway.
By the way, congratulations, you've got your black belt.
Straight after that.
Yeah, straight after that.
By the way, how's your brother Phil?
Yeah, he's sweet.
Did he say to you, because he's a brown belt.
Yeah, let's, can I, did he say to you, now let's just try out and see if I can get a black belt?
He will get there very soon, I think.
It's just timing-wise.
You really have impressed your trainer, because, you know, after that, he gave you the black belt.
So that's pretty cool.
Yeah, it was cool.
Especially you didn't do it with the gi on, you did it in the ring.
But, so do you think to yourself, do I need to do more floor training?
Or is it just all part of the program?
You do it anyway every other day or whatever it is?
It's part of the program.
But it is, yeah, a big focus of mine is working on the ground game, you know.
You've got to work on, I guess, your weaknesses, you know.
You've got to work on your weaknesses.
You've got to work on your strengths as well.
But, yeah, there's nothing worse than going into a fight and then just getting held down.
And, yeah, getting held down, not being able to get up, it's a pretty terrible feeling.
So I just work every day, really.
A lot of grappling training, how to get up, submissions, the whole lot.
And how do you feel?
Obviously, you're a black belt, but that's sort of slightly different to being once you're on the floor in the MMA game.
How do you feel about your game?
Your ground game?
Is it getting better and better?
Yeah, I definitely feel like it is getting better.
I feel like I can hang with the best in the world on the ground.
And that's what I'm just trying to build on.
But also, I don't want to compete with them on the floor.
I just want to, in a perfect world, just stop them, get them strong hips, buck them off whenever they shoot,
and then keep the fight standing.
Yeah, because that's a good place for you to be.
You're really confident.
Yeah, I feel comfortable.
I feel calm, and I feel in control on the feet.
Because that brings me to sort of chef cat.
I mean, I don't know if you call him out or something.
Did you go on X and have a, say, come on, dude?
Yeah, no, straight after the fight with Burns, I sort of just called him out, I thought.
I thought, this is the time.
And he responded by saying, I respect your bravery or something like that,
but I'm going to do to you what I've done to everybody else.
Something like that.
So how do you, I mean, obviously, you've got to get through this event in March,
but how do you plan for someone like chef cat, like, and or Bilal?
I mean, how do you plan for that?
Are you doing that?
Are you doing that?
Are you doing that or you just take one fight at a time?
I focus on one fight at a time.
Get through this fight and then keep it going.
But I think, yeah, just keep doing, just trying to get 1% better every day
in every aspect of the game, you know, that's it.
Just getting better on the floor, getting better with the striking, the whole lot.
Keep getting, yeah, 1% better every day.
So because, that's funny you should say that,
because when I was interviewing Drikus, he was,
he had already in his mind plans about,
you know, after he defends his title a number of times successfully,
of course, going up a division even and, and, you know,
duking up against Alex Pereira.
So, which is a big call.
But planning like way ahead.
Do you ever get people put pressure on you to start to think that way?
Or is it, or is it better for you?
Do you think your style just to go one transaction at a time, please?
Thanks very much.
I mean, obviously having long-term goals is important,
but there's no one really, yeah, who puts too much pressure on me long-term,
but I like to focus fight, fight at a time.
They're big challenges, fights.
You go in there fighting someone that they've put so much time and effort into this.
So, and it all comes down to what happens on the moment.
And anything can happen.
Anything can happen.
Crazy things happen.
So, yeah, I just focus one fight at a time.
Let's get this one out of the way and then move on.
So if, if, if somehow I got announced to Shavkat and Bilal were going to duke it up.
How would, who do you reckon would win out of that one?
That's an interesting fight.
Really, it's hard to, it's hard to gauge.
I think Shavkat has shown that he's more of a vicious sort of finisher.
That finish, he's got that strong finishing instinct.
Bilal is someone that's more going to push a pace, can hold you down.
Just grind out a fight.
So it's an interesting, it's a real interesting fight.
I would, I would have to think Shavkat, I think he's been on a pretty good tear, but his last
fight was a bit quiet, more of a quiet fight, but you do get those.
He's finished everyone.
So I think Shavkat would get the, I think you'll beat him.
How important was it for you when you fought in Perth to be in front of your home crowd?
It was, yeah, it was a dream.
They went mental.
It was a dream come true.
as well even just a fight in australia would have been incredible the first fight in australia in
perth and the crowd that day were absolutely booming you know we had such a big fight having
vulcan islam that's a massive like pound for pound like that's the greatest fight you could
have had at the time and so the crowd just got right behind it and then yeah going out there
the local guys just and then putting on a good performance and getting a clean victory it just
was yeah dream come true yeah and when you when you watched vault fight um do you do you stand
back i mean obviously he was a champion at the time and do you stand back and watch someone like
him and watch how he how he took that fight like you know like he got in some precarious positions
but he was just you know getting the choke off him he was smiling up against the wire like you
know like it was un-fucking-believably cool like yeah like it was ridiculously so aussie it was
He's still playing with him, Nilly, like talking to him, laughing at him.
I mean, how do you feel as an Aussie?
Like you're probably mates of his.
Like how do you feel about that?
How do you feel when you watch that shit?
That was inspiring, you know, for sure.
Like the Dagestani wrestler that like nobody could really mess with him.
Like if he gets you down, it's over.
And Volk's just – he was just having a great old time.
Yeah, and then the last round finishing with Islam on his back
just absolutely wailing on us.
Another 20 seconds.
I was just – I was wishing for another 20 seconds.
I just reckoned he would have done the job.
I think Islam had done his work for the day and he'd clocked out
and Volk was still – he was still on, you know.
So, yeah, we just need another 20 seconds.
I thought Volk won.
I don't know if it was the crowd, but, yeah, it was inspiring.
Just seeing like an Aussie legend like Volk stepping up,
weight class above, pound for pound best,
and just putting on an absolute killer.
It was a performance.
It was inspiring sitting back there.
Bloody masterclass like of entertainment too, by the way.
How important is it for you – I'll put it another way.
How do you dial into the entertainment factor of the whole thing?
Because, you know, like at the end of the day, you're getting paid.
Everyone who's in that knockdown gets paid to win or fight their best.
Put on a – but it's about not only athletic performance,
but it's also the general performance.
So there's – you are part of an entertainment.
You're part of an entertainment factor.
I mean, it just happens to be one of the great, in my view,
one of the greatest entertainment sports in the world.
But not just because Australians, but just generally.
But that's a personal view.
How do you respond to that?
Like how do you sort of play that?
Like, you know, Volk has these songs and, you know,
I think his Men at Work or one of those songs he has coming out.
How do you play into that?
I mean, I just try and leave it to the – I try and leave it to the fighting, you know.
I try and just be pretty.
But then I want to have like a – if all's said and done,
I would just love to have a style that the fans love to watch
and a nice clean style that people like to watch.
I don't really need to be the person that wants to go, yeah,
talk a whole lot or talk bad about anyone.
I just want to have a nice clean style that the fight fans enjoy.
I mean, if I was to describe – and I'm, you know, just one person.
But if I was to describe your style, I would say Willen.
Just a Willen style.
No backward steps.
Oh, by the way, what do you think about Duplessis and the Strickland?
What are you thinking about that?
Where do you reckon that's going to go?
It's an interesting fight.
I think it will be pretty similar to the first one.
I think Drikus will win just through more activity, more power, strength.
I think it will be a similar fight.
I think Strickland's very good.
He's very defensively sound.
He doesn't really use his feet too much.
And Drikus is the sort of guy that will use his feet
and he'll lunge at you.
He's pretty unpredictable.
But it's an interesting fight.
Those guys have very interesting styles, both of them.
So, yeah, it's an exciting fight.
Mate, good luck in London.
It's going to be a ripper.
I can't wait to watch it.
And as you say, it's going to be a very exciting Sunday this weekend.
Yeah, it's very exciting.
Good to meet you, Jack.
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So, if you're someone who's thought about dipping your toes in the crypto market
but isn't sure where to start,
this might be for you.
Visit swiftx.app.com forward slash markboros to check it out.
SwiftX.app.com forward slash markboros to check it out.