Jack Della Maddalena has a name in mind for his next fight, and it’s a hard one. Heavy.com reported that the former UFC welterweight champion is interested in facing Mike Malott. The report doesn’t include a booking, a date or any sign from the UFC that the matchmakers are working on it. For now, this is one fighter pointing across the room at another.
The timing is what makes it interesting. Della Maddalena has had a rough stretch at 170. He lost the welterweight title to Islam Makhachev at UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 15, 2025. That was the night Makhachev moved up from lightweight and took a second belt. Della Maddalena has also been knocked out by Carlos Prates, who has stopped his last three opponents, a run that includes Della Maddalena and Leon Edwards. Those are losses to the two men sitting on top of the division right now, which is a respectable way to lose. It still leaves him needing a win.
Malott is heading the other direction. He’s 15-2-1 overall and 8-1 in the UFC, with five straight wins. Nothing in the reporting has him booked. Yahoo Sports’ matches-to-make column after UFC Vegas 123 suggested pairing him with Jacobe Smith (14-0, 5-0 UFC), who outwrestled Randy Brown for a unanimous decision on Oct. 31. Smith told reporters before that fight that he wants two or three Top 15 opponents in 2027 and a title shot early in 2028. Brown, for what it’s worth, has already shared a cage with Della Maddalena.
The top of the division is crowded. Makhachev (29-1, 17 straight wins) wrote on X that his next fight is “one of the last in my career.” He’s waiting on the winner of Prates vs. Michael Morales, who will fight for the interim belt in the co-main event of UFC 336 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Jan. 30, 2027. Joshua Van vs. Manel Kape headlines that card. Morales is 19-0, and he just posted a scale reading of 220 pounds with a 170-pound limit three months away. The opening lines modestly favor Prates anyway. Makhachev plans to come back in the second quarter of 2027, after Ramadan.
So the belt picture is settled through spring, and everybody below it is fighting for position. That’s where Della Maddalena vs. Malott makes sense.
My take: I like it, and I like it more because it’s a bad business decision on paper for the guy asking. A former champ with two recent losses usually gets a softer fight to stop the bleeding. Della Maddalena is asking for a man on a five-fight heater who has every reason to want a former champion’s name on his record. That’s the kind of matchup that tends to produce a mispriced line, because the public bets the famous name and the bookmakers know it. I’m not handicapping a fight that doesn’t exist yet. But if this gets made, the first thing I’m checking is the Malott price. Prates and Morales settle the interim belt on Jan. 30, and the winner of this one would be the obvious next name behind them.
