The unlikely rivalry between UFC stars and the NBA’s finest has taken another turn courtesy of a clip featuring the No. 1 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Alexander Volkanovski, rolling with Denver Nuggets standout Jamal Murray.
Recently, NBA journeyman James Johnson drew the ire of the MMA community, especially former middleweight champ Michael Bisping, when he suggested that with a year of training, he could handily defeat Jon Jones. That seemingly opened the floodgates with lightweight standout ‘King’ Bobby Green recently telling TMZ Sports that he would “wax” legendary baller LeBron James in a hypothetical fight between the two.
But unlike those two instances of trash talk, Alexander Volkanvski and Jamal Murray actually stepped foot inside the gym and went toe-to-toe in a challenge that ultimately saw the NBA star come out on top. Of course, the rule set was heavily skewed in his favor, but surviving against one of the greatest fighters on the planet is nothing to scoff at.
Alex Volkanovski tried to submit NBA player Jamal Murray in 60 secondspic.twitter.com/Sd8iMuXZOI
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) September 28, 2023
Alexander Volkanovski and Jamal Murray Forge an Unlikely Friendship
As unlikely as it may seem, Alexander Volkanovski and Jamal Murry are actually very good friends. The pair first hooked up when Murray made a trip to Australia in 2022 and gave some pointers to ‘The Great’ on how to improve his jump shot. In exchange, Volkanovski has been showing the b-baller a thing or two in the world of mixed martial arts.
Murray even arrived at T-Mobile arena with Volkanovski ahead of the featherweight champ’s title unification clash with Yair Rodriguez in July.
Volkanovski is yet to announce his next title defense, but all signs point towards undefeated division standout Ilia Topuria being next in line for a shot. ‘The Great’ will also have a close eye on this month’s lightweight title tilt between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira at UFC 294 as Volkanovski still hopes to run back his February Fight of the Year contender against the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ in 2024.
Watch the full video of Jamal Murray training with Alexander Volkanovski below:
