Jack Della Maddalena is back for his biggest opportunity yet.

The Australian welterweight contender has had a solid run inside the Octagon. Della Maddalena has been perfect in his seven-fight UFC run thus far (17-2 overall). After picking up his most significant win yet, knocking out Gilbert Burns at UFC 299 in March 2024, Della Maddalena battled a nasty staph infection for the rest of the year.

It took four surgeries to get Della Maddalena past the injury. In return, he prepares for his first opponent to have held UFC gold, Leon Edwards. The pair will meet in UFC London's main event on March 22.

"It's a big spot. I like London," Maddalena said Wednesday on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "My coach is from London. Leon, former champion headlining a card like, yeah, it's a big one for me. I'm excited. It's a perfect fight to set up a good year if I can take out the former champion in impressive fashion. I think it lines up. It should be a good fight."

The matchup is as good as it gets for a contender bout headliner. However, the behind-the-scenes management side of the coin conflicts with both being under the guise of established agent Tim Simpson.

After stepping down from his role with Paradigm Sports, Simpson created his own agency, housing only a select handful of fighters. Welterweight is the only division Simpson manages two fighters in, and now they'll fight each other.

Despite what could be viewed as a potential negative, Della Maddalena isn't bothered by the scenario and believes it was anticipated at some point.

"I think it's the first fight that Tim was offered," Della Maddalena said. "I think in the back of his mind, he's always thought it could happen. Two top welterweights. He was obviously hoping Leon would be the champion for a few years, and hopefully, I was coming up into that championship contention, I guess, while he was champion. But yeah, so he's always thought it was going to happen. But no, I think it was the first fight that came across. I think he sort of knew they could hit him with that one. I think he was ready for it. But I think it just makes sense. It makes sense for Leon; it makes sense for me. And I think it's a good fight. Two strikers, headlining a big card."

Della Maddalena, 28, has been a consistent finisher outside of split decision wins over Kevin Holland and Bassil Hafez. In Edwards, the Aussie will look to be the first one to stop "Rocky," putting him on his first-losing streak.

UFC London will be another battle on home soil for the former champion Edwards. At UFC 304 in July, Edwards dropped his title via unanimous decision in a rematch with Belal Muhammad. Despite Edwards' impressive but brief run as champion, the early opening odds favor the rising contender Della Maddalena to score the victory.

"I don't really take too much from that, but I guess they just look at the last performances, and a lot of people think Leon didn't really show up in the last performance," Della Maddalena said. "I guess that's where that's from.

"Leon, sort of, it tends to stand back a bit, and Belal is always going to be the sort of guy that's going to push a solid pace. I wasn't super surprised [he lost]. I didn't really have a pick, to be honest. I thought Leon would be the more crisp striker than Belal and maybe be able to land some good strikes. But, no, it didn't happen. But I wasn't surprised. I honestly didn't really know what to expect in the fight. Anyone can win."

Muhammad was expected to defend the welterweight crown against the undefeated 19-0 top contender Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 last month. Unfortunately for the champion, a gnarly toe infection forced his withdrawal, leading to Ian Machado Garry stepping in.

Rakhmonov defeated Garry in the non-title tilt via a unanimous decision, holding his place as the next title challenger. Della Maddalena hasn't heard from the promotion that his Edwards clash puts the winner in line to fight whoever comes out with gold after Muhammad fights Rakhmonov. He's just focused on going out and doing what the new champion couldn't, solidifying his place as the next man up.

"I think their plan is to make this sort of like a title contention fight, but I guess they never lock anything in," Della Maddalena said. "I think it's very much performance-based as well. I think if I go in there and have a close split decision win over Leon, and then someone else has a big performance, they might put them in front of me.

"I want to go in there and prove a point. Prove a point that I could do to Leon what Belal couldn't do. Then kill the shark."