Mixed Martial Artist Jack Della Maddalena has had a late change of opponent ahead of the biggest fight of his life this Sunday.
Della Maddalena, who trains out of Willetton’s Scrappy MMA under Ben Vickers, was scheduled to make his UFC debut against Brazilian powerhouse Warley Alves on the undercard of UFC 270 – Ngannou v Gane, the first pay-per-view event of 2022.
However just days ago, Alves pulled out of the fight for undisclosed reasons.
Rather than scrap the fight, which will open the preliminary card at 9am AWST, UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby has found a replacement fighter in the form of Mexican scrapper Peter Rodriguez.
Rodriguez’ professional record of 4-0 doesn’t seem that impressive, but he has finished all four opponents in the first round.
His professional opponents, however, have a combined record of 8-13 – making Della Maddalena (10-2) the most dangerous opponent he has ever faced.
Della Maddalena won his UFC contract winning a unanimous decision at the UFC’s Las Vegas Apex Centre in front of small handful of onlookers.
Now he’ll be fighting in front of 20,000 people in California’s Honda Centre.
In the main event, former training partners Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane will look to unify the UFC heavyweight belt, while in the co-main, UFC flyweight champ Brandon Moreno will seek to defend his belt in his third fight with former champ Deiveson Figueiredo.
