"Grabbed me and threw me into my chair” - Jack Della Maddalena’s coach shares shocking story about being assaulted at UFC 299 by a state commissioner
Jack Della Maddalena announced himself as a genuine welterweight title following his clash with Gilbert Burns at UFC 299.
The Australian was ranked outside the top 10 of the division ahead of the clash, but following his third-round knockout victory over Burns he has soared to No.5.
It was, without doubt, the biggest win of the surging contender's career, and his team was understandably ecstatic about the result. However, according to Della Maddalena's head coach, Ben Vickers, he was assaulted by a member of the state commission during the end of the fight.
Recently, Vickers and his student appeared on the Grin Reapers podcast to reflect on UFC 299, where the Eternal MMA coach recounted his run-in with the commissioner.
He said this:
"You sit in this tiny little area [cage-side] and the commissioner is sitting just behind you. If you stand up he sort of tells you to sit down and blah blah... Jack lands the knee and he's on top, so all three of [the coaches] are jumping up and down but the commissioner's right behind me."
He continued:
"So he put his hand on my shoulder and I was like, 'Yeah no drama.' Then a few more shots went in and I'm jumping up again and he's pushing me down again. It was all pretty mellow, kind of what happens in the corner. Then the finish was about to happen... So I'm jumping up and down again, and I felt this like, actual assault. He grabbed me and threw me into my chair and then kept his hands on me..."
Watch Jack Della Maddalena's coach detail the incident below from 53:40:
Jack Della Maddalena reveals he entered UFC 299 with a nasty staph infection
Alongside the broken arm Jack Della Maddalena sustained in the opening round against Gilbert Burns, he has now revealed that he competed with a staph infection, too.
Much was made of Benoit Saint Denis taking on Dustin Poirier with a visible staph infection at UFC 299. But given the Australian's recent revelation, he has received little backlash for the admission.
During the aforementioned the Grin Reapers podcast episode, Ben Vickers said this:
"He limped onto the plane on antibiotics the Wednesdays before fight week. We've got guys pulling out of fights two weeks out with staph... Jack was never going to pull out." [From 29:25]
The Australian followed that by saying:
"I think it was really sore on the weekend before, and it had gotten quite a lot better... It was like a little pimple-thing on my knee."
See Jack Della Maddalena's post-UFC 299 Instagram post below: