Daniel Cormier sees star potential in a top UFC welterweight contender.
When assessing the landscape at 170 pounds, Cormier believes Jack Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) could be a big draw if he becomes champion. Unbeaten in the octagon, Della Maddalena hasn’t competed since rallying to knock out Gilbert Burns at UFC 299 in March. He has been recovering from complications due to arm surgery.
“I think Jack Della Maddalena is one fight away from becoming a guy fighting for the belt,” Cormier said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen. “If that fight is against Kamaru Usman, he will be rushed into that title fight. Let me tell you something about the UFC: Vince McMahon famously said, ‘I don’t like the UFC because I cannot control the outcome.’ What the UFC will do, they do know how to follow a game plan and they do know star-building.
“So when you get a guy like Jack Della Maddalena who has an entire country behind him, that everybody is excited about, they will find a way to get him into the position if he earns it. So, if he beats a Kamaru Usman, there will be no other obstacle because, if I am being honest with you, right now at 170, the most marketable guy as a champion right now is Jack Della Maddalena because of where he’s from, because of the entire country behind him, and because of the way they are excited about him.”
Cormier used Leon Edwards as an example to point out how the Brit was able to emerge as a pay-per-view headliner once he became champion. After knocking out Kamaru Usman to claim the welterweight title in the UFC 278 main event, Edwards defeated Usman again at UFC 286, followed by a title defense over Colby Covington at UFC 296.
He would go on to lose his title to Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in July – his fourth-straight headliner.
