Jack Della Maddalena Wants Mike Malott — Just Not on the UFC’s Early-2027 Schedule

Jack Della Maddalena has not rejected Mike Malott. He has rejected the rush.

MMA Mania reported that Della Maddalena is open to fighting Malott but plans to return in April or May 2027, rather than chase the proposed January event in Toronto or the February 7 card in Sydney. That distinction matters. This is an expression of interest, not a booking, and the No. 4-ranked welterweight is prioritizing uninterrupted development over a convenient city or date.

For bettors, the immediate consequence is restraint. There is no linked bout, no verified price and no graded projection. The useful work begins with identifying what Della Maddalena needs to change during the layoff—and which eventual markets those changes could affect—rather than treating a speculative matchup as something ready to bet.

The break follows the first skid of Della Maddalena’s UFC run

Della Maddalena is 18-4 overall and 9-2 across the 11 bouts in our archive. Both archived losses came in his two most recent appearances: a five-round unanimous decision against Islam Makhachev in November 2025, followed by a third-round knockout loss to Carlos Prates in May 2026.

That sequence changed the context around his next fight. Before it, Della Maddalena had won nine consecutive archived bouts, including a five-round title victory over Belal Muhammad, a third-round knockout of Gilbert Burns and a split decision over Kevin Holland. Now he is 183 days removed from competition and coming off the only time he has been finished in the 11-fight sample.

The mechanism behind the delay is more important than the calendar. A fast turnaround would preserve activity, but it would also compress the period available to address problems exposed over 25 minutes against Makhachev and then in the knockout loss to Prates. By targeting April or May, Della Maddalena is choosing a longer training block before beginning another fight-specific camp.