19 minutes and 10 seconds. That’s how long two-division king Islam Makhachev controlled Jack Della Maddalena on the ground in his climb to welterweight gold. While astonishingly dominant, Nick Diaz believes there was one simple adjustment that would have saved JDM’s bout.

Maddalena isn’t quite new to the grappling picture in the UFC, having beaten the likes of Belal Mohammed. However, that flipped upside down after JDM made a pathetically basic jiu-jitsu mistake, despite his decorated resume at the elite level. Diaz helped break down exactly that, as he skimmed over the foundation of BJJ—leverage.

Jack Della Maddalena’s loss to Islam Makhachev boils down to one simple adjustment

In a recent video shared by Jake Shields of the Fight Back podcast, Nick Diaz could be seen at Xtreme Couture as he recounted the UFC 322 main event. Demonstrating an escape from bottom half-guard, a position JDM found himself increasingly often that night, Diaz nailed the difference on why one escape goes the mile while another fails.

In a moment of sharper criticism, Diaz explained what made Makhachev stand out in the crowd. The key difference lies in Makhachev’s refusal to hurry the guard pass and the submission attempts. Instead, the Dagestani lets his opponents struggle under his bone-crushing pressure to empty their tank, a strategy that makes him increasingly dangerous against his opponents. And JDM only fed into that vision as he attempted to white-knuckle his way through the rounds instead of problem-solving the position.

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“You watch this fight with Islam and the f–king Australian, and the poor guy is like—I don’t feel sorry for him,” Diaz exclaimed. “Why are you being controlled from there? That’s the question. Let’s be real—like this guy, who had zero losses, he did not f–king understand that.” Clearly, for a title fight, Diaz didn’t feel JDM honored that reputation with his rushed grappling exchanges.

“I had to watch five f—ing rounds and this guy didn’t execute, like, the leverage. No. The knee’s the leverage. Put the knee in, you break that. You systematically break that and then you put this arm under. For three f—ing rounds, I watched this guy not understand how to do that,” he continued, emphasizing the leverage that could have changed the way we perceive the bout forever.

“This knee here is the leverage. This comes in,” Diaz explained, as he demonstrated a knee shield against the top opponent to create space and establish a non-collapsible frame. That’d disrupt Makhachev’s balance, further compromising his pressure. The other steps of the escape followed that tiny adjustment, including breaking the grip, shrimping out of the control, and securing underhooks.

Diaz emphasized this essential sequence to punctuate Makhachev’s relentless rhythm and dominance in the UFC 322 bout. As he pointed out, brawn without technique, against an opponent of Makhachev’s calibre, who preys on time and control over highlight-reel submission moments, would only gas out the fighter, without yielding anything productive.

It’s the technical clarity and poise under pressure that does the real talking. Turns out, that was actually what Islam Makhachev leveraged in his welterweight bout.

Islam Makhachev’s blunt assessment of JDM’s grappling

Jack Della Maddalena might have outwrestled some of the division’s best wrestlers, but his moves can at times become predictable. And as Makhachev prepared for the JDM bout, he noticed the reversal that Maddalena hit time and again, knowing exactly what to expect inside the cage. That assessment proved to be true once Makhachev hit his first takedown attempt and had the perfect answer to Maddalena’s counter.

“That’s when I realized he had nothing else besides that move. I said to myself, ‘That’s it? You haven’t learned anything else? You don’t have any other skills to get back to your feet?’ That’s when I understood he was going to be there for a long time,” Makhachev quipped, circling on the same issue that Nick Diaz raised; JDM’s lack of minute grappling knowledge and urgency to get back up on his feet.

In the end, JDM’s loss wasn’t about heart or durability—it was about details. Against a champion like Islam Makhachev, even one missed leverage battle can quietly decide an entire fight. Do you believe JDM would’ve been able to crack Makhachev’s dominance with that simple adjustment Diaz suggested? Comment below.