When it comes to warrior spirit, Jack Della Maddalena embodies it deep in his soul. The Aussie has gone through countless battles in his professional MMA career while dealing with multiple injuries along the way. Still, the Perth native has never shied away from pushing himself beyond his limits in every fight, an attitude that eventually made him the welterweight champion of the world. And one of those defining battles was against Gilbert Burns at UFC 299.

At the Kaseya Center, JDM might have pulled off the most impressive victory of his career against the Brazilian veteran with a last-minute KO. He lost two rounds before landing that miraculous knee that sealed the win. What’s even more impressive is that Della Maddalena actually fought Burns with a broken hand and still came out on top.  Now, as the current 170-pound kingpin prepares to step inside the Octagon against Islam Makhachev at UFC 322, let’s take a look at the iconic fight where he pushed through a broken bone and punched his way into stardom. 

The clean break that happened early in the Gilbert Burns fight   

The UFC 299 clash between Jack Della Maddalena and Gilbert Burns was expected to be a technically sound fight, and it delivered on all fronts. From the first bell, Durinho started using his takedowns to put JDM on the ground, then proceeded to take the Aussie’s back by using his elite-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu. For a moment, it felt like Della Maddalena wouldn’t survive for long. But what followed stunned everyone.

Although Burns kept landing his takedowns and put Jack Della Maddalena on the mat a couple of times, the Aussie started using his sprawls and scrambles to get back to his feet and began attacking with knees. But he didn’t get the payoff immediately. After surviving two rounds, ‘JDM’ finally landed a vicious knee in the third round to win the fight. However, the Perth native doing all that with a broken hand made the performance even more unbelievable.

Following the fight, the reigning welterweight champion’s manager, Tim Simpson, revealed that one of Gilbert Burns’ kicks actually landed on Della Maddalena’s arm, completely fracturing it early in the bout. Simpson uploaded the X-ray on X and wrote, “Jack Della Maddalena’s arm snapped clean early in the fight. Rallied for a finish in the third. Soldier! P.S. Gilbert kicks hard!”

After that picture started making rounds on social media, there has been a newfound respect for ‘JDM ‘ for continuing to fight even with such a nasty injury. However, a question came up about whether he actually fought through excruciating pain. Well, he recently cleared that up, too.

In a recent interview with Israel Adesanya on the Freestylebender YouTube channel, ‘JDM’ said, “I don’t know when, I don’t know when. Even looking back, it’s hard to pick when it was broken. I couldn’t feel it tho, I wish I could feel it.” Probably because of the adrenaline rush of the fight.

With that revelation, you can tell Jack Della Maddalena was completely locked in and didn’t want to miss any opportunity to win. So, now that we know how the Aussie battled through a serious in-fight injury and still got the victory, let’s take a look at how his recovery process unfolded, because that was actually more gruesome than the injury itself. 

Jack Della Maddalena’s post-surgery complications following UFC 299  

After Jack Della Maddalena’s brutal hand injury, it didn’t take long for fans to assume their favorite fighter from the land down under would be out for a good amount of time. But only a few truly understood how tough his recovery process would be, as JDM dealt with multiple infections and post-surgery complications that ultimately cost him the chance to fight in front of his home audience.

In August 2024, the UFC traveled to Della Maddalena’s hometown of Perth with Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya headlining the UFC 305 card, where he originally planned to fight. But his broken hand stopped him from performing in front of his people, and the reigning welterweight champion felt nothing but disappointment. In a lengthy Instagram post, JDM revealed that the infection spread through his wound, halted his recovery, and forced him out of UFC 305.

He wrote, “Had surgery on my arm 1 week after 299. 10 days later my wound had began splitting. Which was indicative of infection. Went in for surgery 2 as believed to be infection present, bone cleaned plate replaced, stayed in hospital for 9 days on IV antibiotics then moved to oral antibiotics. Thought the infection was under control, the wound itself had a couple of abscesses pop up over a 5 week period which had been cut and drained which had bacteria present. Unfortunately this means I won’t be competing at UFC 305 in Perth.”

Della Maddalena further revealed the disappointment was a “tough pill to swallow,” while giving a 12-week timeline to return to full health. After the Aussie went into full power mode, he was scheduled to face Leon Edwards at UFC Fight Night London. However, with Shavkat Rakhmonov unable to face Belal Muhammad due to injury, the UFC decided to place JDM in the title fight instead, which led to his five-round masterclass over Remember the Name.

Thus, he became the champion of the world, giving a fairytale ending to his story. Now, with UFC 322 ahead, can Jack Della Maddalena defeat Islam Makhachev to continue his dream run? Let us know in the comments section below.