Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion Craig Jones favors Alex Volkanovski over Islam Makhachev in their upcoming clash this Saturday.
Reigning UFC featherweight champion and pound-for-pound king Volkanovski is set to face lightweight champion Makhachev in the headlining bout of UFC 284 on Feb. 11 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. He goes into the matchup as a heavy underdog against the Dagestani wrestler. However, Jones offered a different perspective.
Craig Jones says Alex Volkanovski can definitely submit Islam Makhachev
In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Craig Jones shared his thoughts on the nearing fight between Alex Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev.
“A lot of people seem to be looking past Volk and I think even Islam to a certain degree is doing that but when you’re such a heavy favorite if Volk gets back up after a takedown that’s going to shatter his confidence in a huge way. If he gets back up again, that just slowly eats away at him. For this one, he’s only got 24 hours to rehydrate.
“Typically I think it’s 36 hours so I think that’s going to play a factor in the later rounds as well. If Volk isn’t down three to none, it will heavily favor Volk in those last rounds. Islam will be strong early but he won’t be able to maintain it for five rounds.”
Jones bashed Makhachev’s abilities
Jones has been helping ‘The Great’ prepare for the showdown. He bashed Makhachev’s submission abilities and believed Volkanovski could capitalize on a potential weakness.
“It was pretty easy being Islam. I didn’t have to worry about taking folks down. I just had to be a boring c**t on top.
“He’s just good at holding people down, he submits people but I don’t think he has good submissions. It’s a wrestling culture and they obviously have some submissions in sambo but sambo is pretty bad as a grappling art. A lot of them want heel hooks banned so it’s not a complete grappling art.”
“A lot of sambo guys are terrified of heel hooks. In sambo, you can only knee bar, no heel hooks. They’re terrified of it so I could definitely see Volk submitting him very quickly with a heel hook.”
Alex Volkanovski could etch his name in the record books as a two-division UFC champ whereas Makhachev will target knocking Volkanovski off the pound-for-pound throne when they clash this weekend.
