Craig Jones isn’t too sold on Islam Makhachev’s submission game.
Jones, a multiple-time IBJJF world championship medalist and 2019 ADCC runner up, has been an integral part of Alexander Volkanovski’s camp for his title fight against lightweight champion Makhachev, which headlines Saturday’s UFC 284 event at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Although Makhachev (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) has 11 career submissions – including his title-winning arm-triangle choke of Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 in October, Jones doesn’t rate his technique too highly.
“I mean, he’s just good at holding people down,” Jones told Submission Radio. “Like, he submits people, but I don’t think he has good submissions. Like, it’s a wrestling culture, and they obviously have some submissions in Sambo and stuff, but Sambo’s pretty bad as a grappling art. Like, a lot of the Sambo guys enter tournaments, they want heel hooks banned. So, it’s not a complete grappling art on the ground. But again, what he does well is his ability to hold people down from half guard and closed guard especially.
“And then as they make bad decisions, he’s able to pounce on submissions. But even still, like, obviously it’s hard for me to say this, but even when I looked at him submit Charles Oliveira, if you looked at how he submitted him, he grabbed his neck and he squeezed him as hard as he could. To me, I look at that, I see that as an inefficient choke. If he didn’t get that, he’s burning his arms out. Whereas, I feel like higher-level technique, he’d be able to hold onto that thing for three, four minutes, if you know what I mean.”
Volkanovski (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) recently defended his featherweight title against Brian Ortega, where he managed to fight off a deep guillotine choke that had him in major trouble. With Volkanovski being able to fend off numerous submission attempts from the Rener Gracie jiu-jitsu blackbelt, Jones thinks he’ll be able to handle Makhachev.
“I mean, honestly, Ortega’s more dangerous on the ground,” Jones said. “Obviously, Ortega’s taken more losses. His submissions are better than Islam’s. I think Ortega could give Islam a good fight, honestly. So, I mean, I think him escaping Ortega’s submissions will be more impressive than him escaping Islam’s submissions.”
He continued, “I think part of what makes Islam special and Khabib special is they have that Mike Tyson effect. Everyone’s so scared. They’re like, ‘Oh sh*t, if hits the ground, it’s over.’ You know what I mean? Obviously, no one’s superhuman, no one’s grappling ability’s that good, you know? So, I think a lot of people just panic and make bad decisions on the ground.”