Jacques Della Madalena knew she had to prepare for war when she prepared to face Beral Muhammad in UFC 315. That’s exactly what the battle brought.
After Muhammad responded to his promises before the event to show off his impressions and avoid a takedown, the fight that went back and forth after Muhammad responded to his promises was to win the night honours. Perhaps it was the ultimate sacrificing Muhammad’s title, but Della Madarena was not completely shocked by his approach.
“Not so (I was surprised by his game plan),” Della Madarena said of Muhammad at a post-war press conference. “He said he wasn’t going to do a takedown, but I was expecting every attack, and I don’t think you can expect anything.
He gave up some takedowns during the five-round battle, but Della Maddalena never actually dealt damage the ground and was able to scramble on his feet repeatedly.
Interestingly, Della Madalena’s own strategy did not allow Muhammad to stay in the center of the octagon and to allow him to control over the cage. He was stuck in that position several times during the fight, but whenever Muhammad closed the distance and fought Della Maddalena inside the phone booth, Della Maddalena connected with some of his best strikes.
“The game plan was to get away from the fence,” Della Madarena said. “He does his best job on the fence, so I was trying to get away from the fence, but he was just walking and pushing it against the fence.
“I was expecting a tough fight. Obviously he’s a good fighter, a pressure fighter, a good wrestling and he’s pretty well balanced. I was expecting a tough fight.”
By the fifth and final round, scorecards were potentially everywhere, and rather than allowing judges to participate, Della Madarena wanted to deliver the finish.
He made his dream come true after the current former champion broke Muhammad with a fierce combination of legs. To his credit, Muhammad constantly showed off incredible durability, and Della Madalena desperately tried to clean up him.
“I wanted to get him out of there,” Della Madarena said. “I thought it would be cool to get that late fight finish, like Gilbert Burns. I felt it was good to take him with me at the end, but I tried it.”
When the fight was over, Della Maddalena really didn’t know what to expect from the decision, but his coach assured him that he was enough to win. As Della Maddalena crowned the UFC champion, the judges nodded with scorecards reading 49-46, 48-47, 48-47.
“You never know, but I was sure I did a pretty good job,” Della Maddalena said. “But I don’t think you’ll know that you’ll ever leave it to the judges. When I finished the fight I asked the horns a few times and they said, “Yes, you definitely won.” ”