Jack Della Maddalena willing to fight Mike Malott – but won't return until spring

Jack Della Maddalena won’t rush his UFC return.

Former UFC welterweight champion Della Maddalena (18-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) is coming off back-to-back losses to current champ Islam Makhachev and, most recently, Carlos Prates at UFC Perth in May.

Rising contender Mike Malott (15-2-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) expressed interest in facing Della Maddalena after he finished Joaquin Buckley last month, and the Aussie welcomes that fight.

“Yeah, for sure, I’d be into that,” Della Maddalena told Bedtime MMA of Malott.

However, Della Maddalena won’t get lured into a timeline that doesn’t suit him. The UFC approached him for the Fight Night event on Feb. 6 in Sydney, but that was too soon for Della Maddalena.

“I do like traveling for fights,” Della Maddalena said. “It is obviously awesome fighting in Australia. You get the whole crowd backing. But I feel definitely less pressure fighting elsewhere. The Sydney card would obviously be sick. It was a good opportunity. They did ask, but I feel like the last one, I sort of just jumped into the Perth fight because I kind of had to.

“I didn’t want to get sucked in too early. My plan after the last fight was develop the skills, become a better martial artist, so I didn’t want get just jump just because of the location. I wanted to give the best performance for the fans, for the team. (I’m) just going to ride it out a bit, but ready to go April, May next year.”

The last time Della Maddalena lost two fights in a row, it was his first two bouts as a pro. He went onto win 18 straight en route to the UFC welterweight title.

“My best performances are in front of me, so this isn’t the end,” Della Maddalena said. “This is just another speed bump, and we will be back.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Jack Della Maddalena willing to fight Mike Malott – but won’t return until spring