{"id":325608,"date":"2026-04-28T04:57:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T23:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=325608"},"modified":"2026-04-28T04:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T23:27:41","slug":"jack-della-maddalenas-coach-says-ufc-ignored-their-preferred-opponent-to-make-carlos-prates-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/28\/jack-della-maddalenas-coach-says-ufc-ignored-their-preferred-opponent-to-make-carlos-prates-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Della Maddalena&#8217;s coach says UFC ignored their preferred opponent to make Carlos Prates fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"post-306235\">\n<div class=\"article-follow\">\n<div class=\"article-sharing google-follow\"> <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMWs2azRtMzFf%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">  <span>Follow us on Google Discover<\/span> <\/a> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>The UFC gave Jack Della Maddalena two options for his return to the Octagon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This Saturday, Della Maddalena faces Carlos Prates in among the finest non-title foremost events that we\u2019re more likely to get in 2026.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-grvmedia-grv-video GRVMultiVideo\"><\/figure>\n<p>The 2 welterweight strikers meeting for the primary time has the potential to be a firefight between two elite gunslingers for so long as it lasts.<\/p>\n<p>While Della Maddalena and Prates agreed to fight one another long before the bout was made official, there was one other opponent on the table for the previous welterweight champion.<\/p>\n<section class=\"grv-talking-point\" data-trigger=\"vue-sidebar\" data-story-id=\"0bbb4da7-bd53-426f-9e71-e4726e0b28ef\" data-story-name=\"UFC Perth\" data-comment-id=\"db57fb9d-882e-464d-b059-7e540762043c\" data-story-slug=\"ufc-perth\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__inner\">\n<header class=\"grv-talking-point__header\">  <\/header>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__content\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__cta\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__title-wrap\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__title-content\">\n<h3 class=\"grv-talking-point__title\">Who&#8217;s more more likely to win a UFC title in the longer term: Jack Della Maddalena or Carlos Prates?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"grv-talking-point__subtitle\">Explain your pick within the comments below<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__embed\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/04\/record-comparison-1-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Jack Della Maddalena and Carlos Prates side-by-side comparison\" class=\"wp-image-306225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/04\/record-comparison-1-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/04\/record-comparison-1-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/04\/record-comparison-1-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/04\/record-comparison-1-912x1140.jpg 912w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/04\/record-comparison-1-600x750.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/04\/record-comparison-1.jpg 1080w\"><\/div><figcaption title=\"Jack Della Maddalena and Carlos Prates side-by-side comparison. Credit: Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC\">Jack Della Maddalena and Carlos Prates side-by-side comparison. Credit: Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Jack Della Maddalena\u2019s coach says they picked a unique opponent to Carlos Prates for return fight<\/h2>\n<p>Jack Della Maddalena\u2019s coach recently told the story of how his upcoming fight with Carlos Prates was made.<\/p>\n<p>Scrappy MMA\u2019s Ben Vickers said that after Della Maddalena lost his title to Islam Makhachev, the UFC presented them with two different options.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, he believes that the promotion at all times had a preference of which one they desired to be next on account of how the method played out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey principally said you may fight fighter A or fighter B. We picked fighter A they usually gave us fighter B,\u201d he told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N1oRRyREgms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Southern Cross Combat<\/a>. \u201cThey principally wanted a certain fight, I believe. We&#8217;re and can at all times be anyone, anywhere, anytime, and that\u2019s Jack\u2019s brand, so we might have fought anyone they put in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246907852-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Jack Della Maddalena moments before title fight against Islam Makhachev\" class=\"wp-image-283276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246907852-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246907852-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246907852-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246907852-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246907852-1140x760.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2246907852-750x500.jpg 750w\"><\/div><figcaption title=\"NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: Jack Della Maddalena of Australia enters the Octagon in the UFC welterweight championship fight during the UFC 322 event at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC)\">Photo by Chris Unger\/Zuffa LLC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Vickers said that he didn\u2019t wish to name the opposite fighter in case it impacted Della Maddalena\u2019s profession by upsetting the UFC.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, \u2018JDM\u2019 could have already revealed who the opposite welterweight contender that was recommend was.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI used to be excited,\u201d Della Maddalena told MMA Junkie when sharing how he reacted to the Prates fight being pitched. \u201cCarlos and Michael Morales, they were kind of the 2 names that were floating about, that the UFC said they were keen to matchup, so I used to be just kind of waiting but either one among those. I used to be really enthusiastic about either one among those.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morales recently met with Hunter Campbell which suggests that he could have an announcement for his next fight coming within the near future.<\/p>\n<div class=\"see-more-wrapper lazy see-more-open see-more-blank extra-content\" data-src=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2026\/04\/27\/jack-della-maddalenas-coach-says-ufc-ignored-their-preferred-opponent-to-make-carlos-prates-fight\/none\" data-type=\"subscribe\">\n<div class=\"see-more subscribe\">\n<figure class=\"newsletter\">\n<div><svg class=\"loading\" width=\"118\" height=\"36\" viewbox=\"0 0 118 36\"><use href=\"#dots-svg\"><\/use><\/svg><\/p>\n<div class=\"signup\"><span class=\"hf\">Join Our Newsletter<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our greatest Bloody Elbow content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Follow us on Google Discover The UFC gave Jack Della Maddalena two options for his return to the Octagon. This Saturday, Della Maddalena faces Carlos Prates in among the finest non-title foremost events that we\u2019re more likely to get in 2026. The 2 welterweight strikers meeting for the primary time has the potential to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":325609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21048],"tags":[3809,835,9080,1253,5279,32996,8845,22394,19800,3928],"class_list":["post-325608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mma","tag-carlos","tag-coach","tag-della","tag-fight","tag-jack","tag-maddalenas","tag-opponent","tag-prates","tag-preferred","tag-ufc"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325608"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325611,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325608\/revisions\/325611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}