Australian Jack Della Maddalena has been left a little freaked out ahead of his UFC title defence in New York, but it has nothing to do with taking on one of the sport's greatest fighters.

Della Maddalena will defend his welterweight crown when he takes on former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night (Sunday AEDT).

Makhachev is a former pound-for-pound champion who boasts an incredible 27-1 record and has been busy bulking up since announcing his move up to welterweight.

But it's not Makhachev's bigger presence that caught the eye of Della Maddalena when they squared off on the top of the Empire State Building earlier this week.

"We were on top of a building, so I was pretty freaked out about that," Della Maddalena replied when asked about Makh

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