The Ultimate Fighting Championship has lost part of a big fight on its upcoming pay-per-view, but the line of interested replacements seems to be growing longer by the hour.
Maddalena has strung together 14 consecutive victories since losing a pair of fights at the very beginning of his career. Along the way up, 13 of those 14 wins have come inside the distance, including four inside the Octagon. The 2022 campaign for the welterweight went swimmingly, as he wrecked Pete Rodriguez, Ramazan Emeev and Danny Roberts all within one round to place himself in top contention. A submission of Randy Brown in February elevated him to a shot against a top-10 adversary.
Still hoping to compete on the July 8 show at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Maddalena issued an “open challenge” to any opponent at 170 or 185 pounds. Joaquin Buckley called for a fight with Maddalena on Instagram, although he suggested they meet in September at UFC 293 in Maddalena’s home country. Per ESPN, Kevin Holland also raised his hand for this matchup, requesting a 175-pound catchweight, and he plans on still fighting at UFC 291 against Michael Chiesa at the end of July.
UFC 290 will be held at the T-Mobile Arena on July 8 to conclude the promotion’s annual International Fight Week. The main attraction will see Alexander Volkanovski attempt to unify his featherweight strap against interim beltholder Yair Rodriguez. Additionally, the co-headliner features a flyweight championship collision as Brandon Moreno rematches Alexandre Pantoja. Other main card tilts include a potential middleweight title eliminator between Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis, and a lightweight banger pitting Jalin Turner against Dan Hooker.