Jack Della Maddalena’s coach has said his fighter will refuse to “bite” on taunts from Ian Machado Garry, who claimed he would “box the ears off” the new UFC champion.

Della Maddalena outpointed Belal Muhammad to win the title last weekend, in the main event of UFC 317, securing victory with sublime striking and defensive wrestling.

However, Machado Garry was not as impressed by the Australian as some observers were, saying after the bout: “You have a new champion in Jack Della Maddalena. He had a great performance, but sloppy.

“You have a tall, blonde Irishman who’s ready to take over the UFC and get that belt, and I will smoke Jack Della Maddalena. I’ll box the ears off him.”

Machado Garry did, however, acknowledge that “JDM” is expected to defend the belt against Islam Makhachev first, when the Russian moves up to 170lb after vacating the lightweight title this week.

In any case, Della Maddalena’s coach Ben Vickers jabbed back at Machado Garry, telling Submission Radio: “We’re not in this business to be celebrities, and as Jack said in his post-fight speech, we just want to win fights and be the best.

“Jack loves scrapping, Jack loves training. We all love the sport and the process. [Machado Garry] can carry on doing his thing. He should concentrate more on finishing fights, especially fights that he’s dominating. He needs to stop flying around the world trying to be a celebrity, and get in the gym and get some power and figure out how to finish fights.

“His time would be better spent doing that than trying to wind Jack up. You think Jack’s going to bite on any of that stuff? He doesn’t care, man. He’s the most chilled-out dude in the world. So yeah, it’s all just a bit silly really.”

Vickers added that he does not expect Machado Garry to “ever own” a UFC title, though the Irishman is well placed in the welterweight division. The 27-year-old bounced back from his first career loss, a narrow decision against the unbeaten Shavkat Rakhmonov in December, by outpointing Carlos Prates in April. That result put Machado Garry sixth in the rankings.

Realistically, Machado Garry might have to fight again before challenging for the gold, with UFC president Dana White confirming this week that JDM will defend against Makhachev later this year. Ahead of Machado Garry in the rankings are former champions Muhammad (#1), Leon Edwards (#4) and Kamaru Usman (#5), as well as Sean Brady (#2) and Rakhmonov (#3).

Rakhmonov was due to challenge Muhammad for the belt in December, but the latter sustained a bone infection, leading Machado Garry to step in. Then, when Rakhmonov vs Muhammad was planned for this spring, the former suffered an injury. That led to Muhammad’s defence against Della Maddalena, as the Aussie took the gold from the Palestinian-American during his first defence.

With that result, the 28-year-old Della Maddalena extended his win streak to a remarkable 18 fights, dating back to 2016. That streak began immediately after he started his career with two straight losses.

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