Welterweight knockout artist Jack Della Maddalena is just about six weeks removed from his first opportunity at UFC gold.
The Australian boxer has started his UFC career with seven straight victories, including five wins via stoppage. He’ll be taking a big step up in competition at UFC 315 on May 10 in Montreal, Canada when he takes on Belal Muhammad, however, as “The Bully” hasn’t lost a fight since 2019. In an effort to give himself the best possible chance, Della Maddalena and his team recently organized a fundraiser to bring his entire crew of coaches and training partners to North America.
Flights from Australia aren’t cheap, and UFC is notoriously stingy with their travel arrangements, often only paying for a single coach/cornerman. Muhammad may have mocked Della Maddalena’s arrangement, but Della Maddalena is hardly unique in trying to find creative ways to cover fight camp expenses.
Or not.
According to MMAFighting’s Damon Martin — who spoke to Della Maddalena’s management team — there’s been a miscommunication. Per Martin, “JDM” was being paid to attend the event at the bar hosting the “fundraiser,” which wasn’t actually a fundraiser at all. In fact, the post about the fundraiser was written without Della Maddalena’s permission or knowledge. Consequently, the entire event has been cancelled.
Jack Della Maddalena was not raising funds to get his team to #UFC315 in Montreal.
Jack was making a paid appearance and there was a miscommunication with the venue, who actually made that post and it was “absolutely outside of Jack’s permission or knowledge.”
Just to clear…
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) April 1, 2025
It’s quite an odd turn of events, and more than one fan has called foul in response. It’s a fairly prevalent belief that UFC CEO Dana White or somebody else high up the ladder didn’t like the look of their pay-per-view (PPV) headliner begging for travel money. It’s not exactly something that happens in the NFL or NBA …
Check out a sample of the reactions below:
“Kiss the ring! The last thing JDM wants is for DW to be mad at him for that negative story about how cheap the UFC is.”
“Ya I am gonna say that’s nonsense, did the UFC release this „correction”. The original post was pretty clear”
“Sounds like the ufc had a stern talk with jack’s team, this seems like a good cover story”
“Only major sport where a guy fighting to become the world champion has to start a go fund me to fly his family to see him lol”
“‘Hey kid ima need you to delete that shit you goofball’ Dana White to Jack”
“Just covering their ass so they aren’t seen publicly complaining about the ufc so they don’t receive punishment”
What say you Maniacs? Was this a simple misunderstanding or is there some genuine drama behind the scenes?
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
