Jack Della Maddalena and Bassil Hafez | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Jack Della Maddalena and Kevin Holland is official for the upcoming Noche UFC card scheduled for T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sept. 16.
The UFC announced the welterweight matchup on Friday.
The bout between Della Maddalena and Holland comes together after the Noche UFC card lost another marquee matchup at welterweight when Kelvin Gastelum was forced to drop out of his scheduled fight against fast-rising contender Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Della Maddalena returns return to action after he endured a tumultuous series of events surrounding his most recent fight scheduled at UFC 290 when he lost original opponent Sean Brady and then his replacement Josiah Harrell was also pulled due to a medical condition revealed in his pre-fight testing.
Eventually, Della Maddalena competed one week later at UFC Vegas 77 where he picked up a hard-fought split decision win over newcomer Bassil Hafez in a back-and-forth battle over three rounds. The win moved Della Maddalena to 5-0 in the UFC with four finishes along the way.
As for Holland, the veteran welterweight looks for his third win in a row after he dispatched Michael Chiesa and Santiago Ponzinibbio in his two most recent performances. Holland needed less than three minutes to finish Chiesa at UFC 291 in July after he slapped on a D’arce choke and got the tap in the opening round.
Holland now attempts to take out Della Maddalena, who has been one of the most talked-about fighters coming out of Australia since he first earned his UFC contract by way of Dana White’s Contender Series.
The upcoming Noche UFC card is headlined by a flyweight title fight as champion Alexa Grasso clashes with Valentina Shevchenko in a rematch.