Jack Della Maddalena dealt with staph infection ahead of UFC 299: ‘We didn’t really train’

Jack Della Maddalena’s UFC 299 experience was fraught with maladies.

The hard-hitting Australian has spoken about the broken arm he suffered during his March 9 fight with Gilbert Burns and on a recent appearance on The Grin Reapers podcast, he revealed that he was also dealing with a staph infection not long before fight night.

“I had staph just before we left,” Della Maddalena said.

“Let’s be honest, you limped onto the plane with staph,” Della Maddalena’s coach Ben Vickers added. “He limped onto the plane on antibiotics the Wednesday before fight week. We’ve got guys pulling out of fights two weeks out with staph. Jack was never going to pull out, but unfortunately, we lost a week of training.

“Jack’s always ready, so that’s not the end of the world, but the antibiotics are always that unknown, how it’s going to affect your body and how you’re going to bounce back. But you were good that week.”

Della Maddalena went on to defeat the top-ranked Burns, scoring with a knee late in the third round and following with several grounded elbows to earn the stoppage. It was a much-needed finish for Della Maddalena who entered Round 3 down on two of the judges’ scorecards.

According to Della Maddalena, he doesn’t believe he was affected by his bout of staph.

“We didn’t really train,” Della Maddalena said. “We just chilled for the first four days we were there. We just had the antibiotics and we were just cruising. Then on the Sunday I stopped taking the antibiotics and we did a little workout and I felt fine. You’ve just got to roll with it, because at the end of the day it’s only 15 minutes, just get in there and go. I feel like I can do a 15-minute fight on my worst day.”

As for his broken arm, Della Maddalena said that he’s already undergone surgery and that his recovery is on schedule: “I had surgery. … Went out, put a plate in, they did some tendon reattachment in my thumb.”

The plan now is for Della Maddalena to be ready to fight in four months when the UFC returns to Australia. UFC 305 is scheduled to take place in Perth and Della Maddalena has already called for a fight with the welterweight division’s boogeyman, Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Della Maddalena’s call-out is one of pure respect as he considers Rakhmonov to be one of his favorite fighters on the roster. Not to mention the fact that a win over the undefeated Kazakhstani fighter likely propels the winner to a title shot.

“It’s a fight I’ve wanted for a while,” Della Maddalena said. “I think the way it works out now, obviously Leon and Belal will fight, so then it’s sort of good timing, me and [Rakhmonov] could fight. … I like Shavkat’s style. I’ve always sort of wanted to fight Shavkat. I think he’s the best, and I think it’s a pretty challenging fight.”