Islam Makhachev mauled Jack Della Maddalena at the UFC 322 fight night. Makhachev has trained in Sambo. The martial art style is considered to be ‘fake’ by Australian fighter Craig Jones, who prefers Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Ironically, Sambo did seem to win against Jones’ BJJ coaching.

Joining the training camp for the welterweight champion Maddalena, Jones brought the grappling ace to nullify the Dagestani wrestling style that Makhachev commands. Comically, Makhachev humiliated the striking powerhouse with a series of unrelentless takedowns. Following his win, Makhachev did not waste any time in taking shots at Craig Jones.

Islam Makhachev mocks Craig Jones after his UFC 322 $1 million win

The UFC 322 title winner didn’t wait a second, jumping in to poke fun at the jiu-jitsu king. Claiming that Jones’ coaching failed JDM, Makhachev posted on X: “Jokes aside, Craigjones needs to be fired. We have to make Australia great again!” He also added a poll to the tweet, with the options “Fire?” and “Send 2-3 years Dagestan?” Referring to the wrestling legacy the Dagestanis have created in just a matter of years. Makhachev is indeed poking the bear, joking about how Jones could become a better fighter if he starts learning the art of Sambo.

The simple tweet sent his 800K+ followers into an online war against the BJJ fighter. ‘Send to Dagestan‘ memes flooded the replies, and fans began throwing verbal jabs at the Australian fighter. However, some pointed at Makhachev’s own gaps in the ground game. Against someone who brought in Craig Jones to fill in his grappling game just for the fight, Makhachev owns a huge jiu-jitsu advantage against JDM. Still, we couldn’t see a single submission attempt from the newly crowned Welterweight champion.

Still, the fight was a true show of the command wrestling has in MMA, with Makhachev finishing 4 takedowns against JDM. His strategy was simple: duck well under the striker’s punches, close the range with a tight body lock, and corner his opponent against the cage. Shutting down JDM’s movement, Makhachev succeeded in finishing all four of his takedowns, surpassing even Khabib Nurmagomedov when it comes to the wrestling saga.

Following this dominant win, Makhachev told the media, “Your jiu-jitsu didn’t work. You have to come to Dagestan for 2-3 years.” But, it appears, his messages to Craig Jones began even before the fight, when he told Daniel Cormier, “Let’s make this Craig [do] one fight, MMA fight.” He continued, “When you bring someone for one camp or for two camps? I give you a good example. What about Khamzat [Chimaev] fighting with Dricus [du Plessis]? Du Plessis brought many coaches, many partners, but it didn’t help. It’s not working like this.”

Surely, a couple of camps cannot improve your takedown defenses or your mount escapes. Craig Jones cannot turn JDM into a master leg-locker in a matter of days, either, especially not against a wrestling-heavy top game that Islam Makhachev commands. Still, the Dagestani fighter’s manager didn’t stop from turning the blame to the jiu-jitsu practitioner after JDM suffered a crushing defeat. “Hey Australia, this Craig Jones, please deport him. He makes guys lose,” Ali Abdelaziz added.

Jones was not backing down either.

Craig Jones takes digs at the UFC 322 title winner

Craig Jones isn’t new to humor that can drag even the best wrestlers down. And his reaction to Islam Makhachev’s disapproval of him in JDM’s training camp is worth a read. No, he didn’t defend his position or Maddalena’s for the fact. Instead, he noted the look in Makhachev’s eyes when Jones was brought up in the pre-fight presser.

“That look, I’ve only seen in the exes that really loved me,” he said. “Send him 2-3 years Australia and forget.” Spitting back Dagestan’s own comments at Makhachev, Jones added a little Australian kick to the meme. Whether this is just to spite the MMA fighter or to hint at the jiu-jitsu caveats in his wrestling game is debatable.

But this isn’t news that Jones doesn’t quite approve of Sambo. If you’re unsure of where Sambo fits into the narrative, well, Makhachev and the Dagestani wrestlers began with Sambo roots in their game. And Jones believes Sambo is just a hastily put Frankenstein of jiu-jitsu, judo, and wrestling, fit for MMA, but with multiple gaps in the game.

“Khabib started this beef, and in terms of pure grappling matches, there’s not a good sambo guy on earth,” Jones said. “Obviously, the skill set they have translates quite well to MMA, but in terms of pure grappling, there are some holes in the game. They banned rotational leg locks, so it is a limited grappling skill set.”

While Khabib Nurmagomedov suggests jiu-jitsu is just easy Sambo, without a doubt, the martial art’s ties with BJJ are crystal clear for any practitioner to point out. Incorporating pinning positions like mount and side control, and submissions like armbars, these moves are just to name a few things Sambo picked up from BJJ. Unfortunately, lessons from the jiu-jitsu king himself couldn’t fight against Makhachev’s flawless wrestling. Who do you think will have their hands raised if Jones and Makhachev fight?