Islam Makhachev had a healthy dose of humor coming into UFC 284. Volkanovski’s BJJ coach, Craig Jones, had made a lot of inflammatory comments including claims that Volkanovski could submit him with a heel hook.
“Like it’s a wrestling culture and they obviously have some submissions in Sambo and stuff. But Sambo is pretty bad as a grappling art. I, you know, like a lot of the sambo guys in the tournaments, they want heel hooks bans, you know so it’s not a complete grappling on the ground.” – Jones told media.
Makhachev was asked about these comments heading into UFC 284 and he plaid dumb going so far as to call Craig, Greg.
“This is not same. He bring some guys from the jujitsu, but this is not same, you know, this is not just going to be jujitsu. This is going to be MMA pressure to the ground. He feel like Greg Jones (Craig Jones) cannot control him on the ground. But this is a different.”
Makhachev edged out an unanimous decision victory after even keeled five rounds. After all was said and done, Makhachev went on to hug Craig Jones as the teams were exiting the cage. Jones seemed taken aback. Islam was then asked at the presser what transpired between the two to which he responded:
“I told him why you don’t teach him like escape from the triangle from the back”
Turns out, Makhachev joked with Craig Jones after by asking him why he didn’t teach Volkanovski how to escape a body triangle. Volkanovski spent more than four minutes of the 25 minute event trapped in a body triangle – and while he was defending properly he didn’t quite manage to escape.
