In the buildup to his prized pupil’s first title defense, Ben Vickers touted Jack Della Maddalena’s preparation.
In pre-fight interviews, the coach said Della Maddalena wasn’t worried about what his challenger, former lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, was going to be after. Instead, it was going to be about implementing Della Maddalena’s plan – and Makhachev then would find out the price to be paid for trying to take the fight to the canvas.
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But the fight turned out to be not even remotely competitive. Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC), who dumped his lightweight title to move up for a shot at the welterweight belt, dominated Della Maddalena (18-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) for 25 minutes and swept the scorecards.
Makhachev became the latest two-division champion in UFC history and there’s no indication he’ll head back to lightweight and will make 170 pounds his new home. He outstruck the champion 140-30 and had more than 19 minutes of control time off his four takedowns.
It got so bad that Vickers, heading into the fifth round, saw the looks on Della Maddalena’s face throughout the first 20 minutes – and it was a mix of being overwhelmed and lost. Vickers let him know the last five minutes was the only shot he had left – and told the champ to “take that f*cking sad look off your face.”
Check out the video below (H/T @HappyPunch).
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Jack Della Maddalena coach attempts to motivate in UFC 322 loss
