Michael Page doesn't see Islam Makhachev being able to implement a heavy grappling approach against Jack Della Maddalena.

Della Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) defends his welterweight title against ex-lightweight champ Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) in Saturday's UFC 322 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+/FX, ESPN+) main event at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Page started out his UFC tenure at welterweight but has recently been competing at middleweight after feeling irked by the "politics" at 170 pounds. Despite Makhachev's elite ability to grapple, MVP thinks Della Maddalena will be able to stay off the ground.

"Jack Della vs. Islam is obviously an interesting one," Page told TNT Sports. "It's annoying for me because it holds up the division that I'm in, but it's still an exciting fight. I actually feel like Jack Della is very underrated, even though he's a champion now, and the people he fought to get here, he's very underrated, very underestimated always. He's a person that is hard to keep on the floor because he's the scramble king.

"Even if Islam is able to take him down, I don't think he's going to stay down at all. The only way I think Jack can get caught is if he tries to get up incorrectly and gets caught in one of his famous chokes that he has. But other than that, I feel Jack's the better striker, as well, and he's just better at nullifying people with submissions or takedowns."

Della Maddalena is a sizable underdog heading into his first title defense against Makhachev. He was the betting underdog in his past four fights.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Michael Page: Islam Makhachev struggles to keep 'scramble king' Jack Della Maddalena down

Reporting by Farah Hannoun, MMA Junkie / MMA Junkie

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