Craig Jones didn’t have much to say when Islam
Makhachev and Khabib
Nurmagomedov brought up the jiu-jitsu vs. combat sambo debate
with him.

Jones is considered one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners of
recent times. He has humorously taken shots at combat sambo
repeatedly, claiming to have found the answer to elite wrestlers
like Makhachev and Nurmagomedov. Moreover, Jones has been an
integral part of multiple Australian fighters’ camps leading up to
fights against wrestlers.

However, he found himself on the losing side when Jack
Della Maddalena put his welterweight title on the line against
Makhachev at UFC 322
last November. Despite Jones’ assistance, Della Maddalena was
dominated on the ground for five rounds by Makhachev, who then
confronted the grappling coach about his jiu-jitsu superiority
claims.

Craig Jones explains his exchange with Islam Makhachev and
Khabib Nurmagomedov after UFC 322

While Jones didn’t say it to Makhachev’s face, he thought he had
served his purpose since Della Maddalena didn’t suffer a submission
loss. The Dagestani was then joined by his friend and mentor,
Nurmagomedov, who started listing occasions where Makhachev
triumphed over fighters who had trained with Jones. “The Eagle”
noted that Della Maddalena, Dan Hooker
and Alexander
Volkanovski lost to Makhachev despite training with Jones.

“Islam was screaming at me. The fight was still going on,” Jones
said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “He’s like, ‘Where is your
jiu-jitsu now?’ I was thinking in my head, ‘You didn’t get a
submission, bro. Mission accomplished on my behalf.’ Afterwards,
Islam came up, and he was nice about it.”

Islam Makhachev had a Message for Craig Jones During UFC 322: ‚Where Is Your Jiu-Jitsu Now?‘

Jones then clarified that he never helped Hooker, who was submitted
by Makhachev. The light-hearted debate aside, the Australian
revealed Volkanovski is setting it up for him to train with the
Dagestani contingent someday.

“I think one day we’re gonna link up and train together,” he added.
“Alex was trying to make that happen. Then Khabib came over. I feel
like Islam has a better sense of humor than Khabib. I didn’t know
how that was going to go. Khabib came over, and he was just
counting names out. He was just like, ‘Volkanovski twice. Dan
Hooker. Now, Jack. You need to say something good about Sambo.’ I
was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn’t coach Dan Hooker. That’s 3,
my friend.’”

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

Internationaler Kampfkunst und Kampfsport Kleinanzeiger