Jack Della Maddalena is taking a break from fighting to level up as a mixed martial artist.

That’s the message the former UFC welterweight champion shared with Bedtime MMA during a new interview just days ago. Della Maddalena’s name has been coming up a lot lately. There’s a lot of heat behind the idea of him fighting Canadian contender Mike Malott at UFC 336 in Toronto this coming January. There’s also a UFC Fight Night in Sydney, Australia on February 7th.

Both events would benefit from JDM’s participation, but they don’t seem to line up with Jack’s current timeline.

Asked if he’d be down to fight Malott, Della Maddalena said “Yeah, for sure. I’ll be into that.”

But those hoping to see the fight go down in Toronto or perhaps Sydney may be disappointed. Following his second loss in a row back in May to Carlos Prates in his hometown of Perth, Della Maddalena is no longer willing to rush back early for the right opponent or location.

“I feel like the last one, I sort of just jumped into the Perth fight because I kinda had to,” he said. “So I didn’t wanna get sucked in too early. My plan after the last fight was develop the skills, become a better martial artist. So I didn’t wanna get just jump to the location, you know?”

“I wanted to give the best performance for the fans, for the team. So just gonna ride it out a bit, but ready to go April, May next year.”

Della Maddalena suggested a fight away from his home country might be next.

“I do like traveling for fights,” he said. “It is obviously awesome fighting in Australia. You get the whole crowd backing, but I feel definitely less pressure fighting elsewhere.”

The key thing was to spend enough time training outside of a camp to reset after a tough twelve months that saw him drop the belt to Islam Makhachev and then lose to Prates.

“My best performances in front of me, so this isn’t the end,” Della Maddalena insisted. “This is just another speed bump that we’re getting up from.”

Jack Della sits at No. 4 in the welterweight rankings, still within striking range of the belt with a turnaround win or two.