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West Australian Jack Della Maddalena has landed a lucrative UFC contract after beating Ange Loosa in a tight welterweight bout.
West Australian Jack Della Maddalena has withstood a testing challenge to win his welterweight bout and score a lucrative UFC contract.
While Della Maddalena scored a unanimous decision on Wednesday in Las Vegas, Congo-born Swiss Ange Loosa pushed him hard in Dana White's Contender Series.
Loosa unleashed a flurry of kicks at the start of the fight before Della Maddalena used his superior boxing skills to take control.
But the 25-year-old Australian slipped over in the second round and that gave Loosa the opening to apply a head and arm triangle.
Della Maddalena was able to break out of that hold and also used his judo background to thwart several other takedown attempts.
It was a hard-fought bout that was a lot closer than the 30-27 30-27 30-27 judges' scores suggested.
Della Maddelena, who improved to a 10-2 record, follows compatriot Jimmy Crute in earning his UFC ticket through White's series.
"He was tough. Obviously the Congo built them pretty tough, but not as tough as the Australians," Della Maddelena told UFC analyst Laura Sanko.
"He got me down a couple of times, I feel like I got the reversal. It was a fight and I feel like I won the fight overall, so happy days."
White was impressed with the Australian's win.
"All I can say about this fight is wow!" White said post fight.
"Jack didn't just show us a little bit of everything, he showed us a lot of everything. No matter where this fight went this kid was really good."
Della Maddalena has come a long way since the start of his professional fights which began with two losses, resulting in a pact with his coach Ben Vickers to win the next 10 straight.
White, the UFC president, hand-picks who gets a UFC contract from the 12 fighters on the six-bout card - although winning certainly helps.
He's handed out five contracts in the first two weeks of this year's series, with six bouts on this card.
Della Maddalena hasn't lost since 2016.
Fellow Australian Junior Tafa will try to follow Della Maddalena's lead when he competes on the Contender Series on October 20.
