Khabib Nurmagomedov calls Jack Della Maddalena a “tough opponent” for Islam Makhachev
UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov believes Jack Della Maddalena will be a tough opponent for Islam Makhachev at UFC 322.
On Saturday night, Jack Della Maddalena will defend his UFC welterweight championship for the first time. He will do so against Islam Makhachev, who is making the move up from 155 pounds in order to try and join the exclusive club of fighters who have become two-weight world champions in the UFC.
While many believe that Makhachev will be able to get the job done, you can bet that Della Maddalena isn’t going to go down without a fight. He proved in his title win over Belal Muhammad that he is willing to do whatever it takes in order to win, which is one of the reasons why this is viewed as such a close fight.
In a recent interview, the aforementioned Khabib Nurmagomedov couldn’t help but praise Della Maddalena ahead of fight night.
Khabib praises Della Maddalena heading into UFC 322
“Islam is on top of his game last five years,” Nurmagomedov recently said in an interview with Josh Thomson. “He was champion at lightweight. For long time, he was contender. People know him the last five years, he was on top. But JDM, he just come. He just win his biggest fight in his life against Belal, and people don’t know him.
“But the way how he shows his skills, I think he’s very, very tough opponent for us. That’s why we trained so hard. We just finished last sparring yesterday. It was 11 weeks of very hard training. Islam is ready to go. We expect a very tough fight against JDM. We give him credit, and we know he’s a tough guy.”
“Honestly, he was lifting,” Nurmagomedov said. “He was preparing for this fight to move to welterweight. After right when he finished his fight in January… after he begin this. Last six, seven months, he was putting on weight a little bit. He never was more than 200.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM
Topics:
Islam Makhachev Jack Della Maddalena Khabib Nurmagomedov UFC
