Jack Della Maddalena’s path to UFC welterweight gold was nearly derailed by something far more sinister than an opponent’s right hand. After breaking his arm in the opening round of his March 2024 war with Gilbert Burns at UFC 299, Della Maddalena powered through the pain to score a dramatic third-round knockout. The X-ray that followed, his arm bent in ways nature never intended but the real trouble was just beginning.
Jack Della Maddalena’s Arm Injury
What should have been a routine recovery quickly spiraled into a medical nightmare. In a recent sit-down interview, the welterweight world champion explained:
“It was supposed to be simple—you know, broken arm, plate in, 6 to 12 weeks. But then, after the surgery, my arm was stinking. Took off the cast, and it was covered in yellow and blood. The surgeon opened it up, and the whole thing was splitting, oozing. He said, ‘This is some sort of infection.’
“Four surgeries later, we were just watching it closely, week by week, with X-rays to see if the bone would heal or disintegrate. There was definitely a chance I could have lost my arm if the bone started to disintegrate. I didn’t even talk to them at that point about what was next. I just hoped it wouldn’t disintegrate.”
The infection was relentless. Jack Della Maddalena endured four surgeries, with doctors forced to remove infected tissue and even some bone. At one point, the wound erupted with pus right in the surgeon’s office, and the medical team could only monitor the arm week by week, hoping the bone wouldn’t give up entirely. For a stretch, the prospect of fighting again took a back seat to a more basic hope: keeping his arm attached.
UFC 315
Somehow, Jack Della Maddalena not only kept his arm, but returned to the Octagon in May 2025 at UFC 315. After a year on the sidelines, he faced welterweight champion Belal Muhammad in Montreal. The Aussie was all business, outstriking the defending champ and stuffing takedown after takedown. The judges saw it for Della Maddalena, making him the third Australian to claim a UFC title, and ending Muhammad’s six-year unbeaten run.
“It felt [expletive] good,” Della Maddalena said afterwards, probably understating the relief of having both a championship belt and two working arms. He credited Muhammad’s pressure but said he always believed he could get the job done, even after the medical ordeal that nearly ended his career.
Islam Makhachev
Now, the new champ’s next test is already looming. Jack Della Maddalena is set to defend his title against Islam Makhachev, the pound-for-pound king and lightweight champion moving up in weight, motivated, Della Maddalena says, by a chance to avenge his friend Alexander Volkanovski’s losses to Makhachev.
The Australian is relishing the challenge, quipping, “I reckon he’s gonna underestimate me as well. I like it, for sure. But it doesn’t really matter what he thinks, we’re gonna fight. I’m excited.”
