Sean Shelby's Shoes: What's next for Jack Della Maddalena after UFC Perth loss?

Less than a year after he defeated Belal Muhammad to claim the UFC welterweight title, Jack Della Maddalena is now on a two-fight skid and facing uncomfortable questions about the future.

Della Maddalena (18-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) came out on the wrong end of Saturday's UFC Fight Night 275 headliner after Carlos Prates (24-7 MMA, 7-1 UFC) delivered a striking assault on him unlike he's ever experienced before.

It's typically not a great sign when the best thing you can say about a fighter's performance is the incredible toughness and durability he displayed. That's the case with Della Maddalena here, however, because he could not find any sustainable offence to slow the pressure and output of Prates, who after three knockdowns finally finished the job with a flurry of ground strikes.

After dropping the belt to Islam Makhachev in one-sided fashion at UFC 322 in November, Della Maddalena was determined to work his way back to a rematch. That fight already had little fan appeal, and with the defeat to Prates, he's now further removed from the title conversation.

It's a dramatic shift from where he was just months ago and another showcase of the cruel nature of the fight game, but the positive perspective for Della Maddalena is that he's lost back-to-back fights before. It came at the very start of his career, and he rallied with 18 straight victories to become a UFC champion. He's also still just 29, so he's got plenty of time to try to accomplish more great things in the sport.

This is definitely fragile ground for Della Maddalena, though. He's still going to find himself with a top five ranking after this loss, and that means he's going to have another killer coming for his head. Two losses in a row could easily become three if his next matchup isn't favorable, and given hope deep the 170-pound division is at the moment, almost every potential bout is roughly coin toss.

The winner of next week's UFC 328 fight between Sean Brady and Joaquin Buckley could be in play as an opponent. He could revisit a once-scheduled matchup with former champion Leon Edwards, who also just lost to Prates in his most recent bout. A third possibility could be Gabriel Bonfim if he manages to jump in the rankings with a win over Muhammad in their UFC Fight Night 278 headliner on June 6.