“If I could have the perfect match, it was just to put on a masterclass,” he said. “Not get hit, hit (them) a lot and get out of there unscathed whether it’s a finish or a decision – it doesn’t really matter.”
Della Maddalena is optimistic about the stylistic clash when he and Rodriguez step into the Octagon and he expects his opponent to come out fast with heavy, fluid hands. That said, Della Maddalena is confident in his fight IQ, and if his Contender Series bout is anything to learn from, he’ll happily accept a bit of Octagon chaos.
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Another bright spot to the slightly tumultuous lead-up to his debut is the fact that he gets to make his promotional entrance in a full arena on the year’s first pay-per-view event instead of the originally scheduled affair in the UFC APEX.
He also understands the moment available to him. If he can deliver the “masterclass” he’s hoping for on fight night, it sets him up for a faster track in the shark tank that is the welterweight division. He’s drinking it all in, though. You only make your UFC debut once, and he’s definitely soaking it all in as much as he can.
Once it’s time to make that walk to the Octagon, he said he’ll have “tunnel vision,” but by no means is he in a rush.
“I enjoy the whole experience of fight week,” he said. “It’s nice just to take everything in for what it is, take it every day at a time, try not to wish the time away, don’t look too forward to the fight or the weigh-ins. Take every day (as it comes), and then get down to business when it’s game time.”
Don’t miss a single strike of the first pay-per-view of 2022 at UFC 270: Ngannou vs Gane, live from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California on ESPN+. Prelims begin at 6pm ET/3pm PT. Main card begins at 10pm ET/7pm PT
