Bring back the real #WelterweightKing!

You really believe PFL’s PR machine would cough up solid plans this side of their next YouTube sizzle reel? Please. Next they’ll spin a “European media tour” that’s two Twitter live chats and a half-baked merch drop.

Jack Della Maddalena's gonna light the cage like it's the ACC on a Saturday night, no question 🔥💪 De Ridder's people want smoke? Bring it, we'll flood Vegas with orange and black thunder 🙌 Jack's not just flexing, he's out there proving every camp why UFC brass sleeps easier with 170 in his hands, defo the king we've been praying for all these years fighting for scraps

Funny thing about Simone "The Dutch Destroyer" De Ridder—he’s still listed as a lightweight in the UFC database, and the last time he fought at 170 was back in 2021 against an undersized welterweight veteran who hadn’t sniffed top-15 rankings since the Diaz era. Age-wise, he’s turning 30 next month; add two years of PFL brawling where 80% of the names are journeymen or you-say-my-name fighters, and you’re looking at a guy whose last legit welterweight-level test was three belts and a continent ago. Now Jack’s the opposite end: undefeated at both 170 and 185, finished every opponent inside the distance, and UFC brass literally uses his fights as benchmarks for what they’ll green-light at welterweight. If PFL wants him, they’ll need to move heaven and earth, because Dana and Hunter have already pencilled in a trilogy with Islam—something that’ll rake in three times the purse De Ridder’s ever commanded. Plus, Jack’s training camp in Coconut Creek is locked in until at least December, gym leases don’t expire like free-agent Tinder profiles, and his coach won’t risk the most marketable asset in modern MMA for a mid-tier PPV main-event against a guy who can’t draw outside Europe. So yeah, De Ridder’s people scribbling notes on napkins counts as “interested,” but reality? The stars would have to align like a Vegas jackpot—only this time the jackpot is Jack staying welterweight.

simone the dutch destroyer? mate he’s got more dust on him than a philadelphia museum artifact. i remember back in the day when we used to scour fight records for fighters who actually stepped up—2015 through 2018 was the golden stretch at 170, guys like woodley, lawler, covington, rda, they were scrapping for scraps in the elite and still drawing sell-outs. nowadays the landscape is littered with pfl refugees and one-off welterweights who fold the second someone throws harder. but jack? jack don’t care about pretty records or napkin-sized threats from european sideshows. he straps em on while they’re still checking their gear list. and talk about a camp that locks in—i’ve been hauling lorries into ccf for twenty years, you think a gym lease is small potatoes? they’ve built something over there that doesn’t rely on pfl pocket change or flashy press tours. Jack’s schooling the game, not just winning rounds. so when all in footy zone says “stars would have to align like a vegas jackpot,” i say nah—Jack’s already hit the jackpot and he’s stacking the chips himself.

Just popped over to Coconut Creek last week, mate, and Jack’s camp looks less like a gym and more like a proper welterweight university—yellow belts busting out fresh pads while the senior coaches film technique reviews on iPads that still have 2022 stickers on the back.

You ever watch a welterweight era so half-arsed that you start counting on your fingers to remember who even held the belt last? The Thompson years blurred into Usman, then it was just sandpaper rematches until Colby put the division back on the map for two years straight. That's how I remember it—the last time welterweight felt like a real division, not a revolving door of names you could barely recall by fight night. So when TerraceLegendEst1990 says Jack's out there proving every camp why UFC brass sleeps easier with 170 in his hands, he's not overselling it. That gym lease in Coconut Creek? My brother actually filmed a documentary short there last year—saw firsthand how Jack’s team runs drills like they're drafting blueprints. Not flash, not hype, just gear laid out at 5 AM and a whiteboard full of adjustments from three fights ago. But here’s the catch: Jack’s trilogy with Islam isn’t just some random booking. It’s the first time UFC’s staked a claim on welterweight like they used to with Pride’s old openweight nights—meaning they’re not just counting gates, they’re counting legacy. De Ridder? PFL’s got more pull than a wet tissue. Show me the numbers on that “solid plan,” RetroGuy. Till then, orange and black thunder in Vegas it is.

remember when everyone swore Usman would finally drop that belt to guga last year before the whole thing just vanished into the rearview like a bad ferrari ad? or how we all had tickets burning in our pockets for covington-vs-santiago in madison square garden in 2019—until some executive woke up one tuesday and decided the welterweight division was too toxic so let's reschedule it to june 2024 instead? ah well, we’ll see.