Featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski shut down many critics and doubters after his performance at UFC 284. While the Australian didn’t get his hand raised, he came strikingly close to attaining double champ status in a somewhat controversial decision. Heading into the fight, fans and analysts alike did not give ‘The Great’ much of a chance, with some even expecting an early finish by Islam Makhachev. Despite the odds, the featherweight champ pulled off what many felt was impossible – to out-grapple a Dagestani wrestler. And while doing this, the 34-year-old has brought the limelight back on the age-old question that many felt was already a settled debate – who’s better, Sambo or BJJ?

Volkanovski‘s Jiu-Jitsu coach Craig Jones appears to have taken it upon himself to answer this question. The ace grappler in a recent video on the B-team’s YouTube channel gave a breakdown of the fight between ‘Volk’ and Makhachev. He also talked about another grappling bout to prove how BJJ could just be a better sport than Sambo.

Craig Jones breaks down the Sambo vs BJJ debate, brings up Mikey Musumeci’s ONE FC win

The entire debate on the effectiveness of the two sports started when, back in 2013, Khabib Nurmagomedov came out wearing a T-shirt printed with the line ‘If Sambo was easy it would be called Jiu Jitsu‘. Throughout his career, ‘The Eagle’, with his dominant wrestling and Sambo background, seemingly proved that Sambo was indeed far more effective than the gentle art of BJJ. But with the passing of time, individuals like Craig Jones appear to have found ways to counter this particular wrestling style.

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In his latest video, Jones brought up the fight between BJJ star Mikey Musumeci and Bayanduuren Gantumur at ONE FC to prove that BJJ indeed was far more creative and, as a result, effective. This particular bout, as per Jones, showed how BJJ was ahead of Sambo; owing to the leg attack options that grapplers had. Musumeci defeated Gantumur, a Combat Sambo champion, through an array of heel hooks and knee bars that eventually ended with the latter suffering major injuries; that included a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus.

While talking about the fight, Jones said: “Jiu-Jitsu is better at submissions than Sambo, that’s a fact, that’s undeniable. Even ONE Championship is doing this stuff, and you saw the Sambo guy just let his leg get broken by Mikey in a million different ways.”

The 31-year-old also recollected one of his bouts with another Sambo wrestler.

“I think it was 2018. We faced the Sambo team and I guess this might be a Sambo thing, but that guy let me break his leg in a very horrible way,” said Jones, driving his point home once again for the viewers. He then goes on to make his claim that Jiu-Jitsu was better than Sambo, especially in terms of submissions. “So I think we look at it in a pure grappling sense, and a pure submission sense. Jiu Jitsu far far better than Sambo. Obviously, Sambo has the takedown skills that they take across the MMA, which is again very impressive.”

As he continued, Jones also pointed out how his expertise helped Volkanovski to counter Makhachev‘s style during the UFC 284 main event. The Australian grappler clearly had a strong belief in the featherweight champ’s grappling and ability as a fighter that he would be able to counter the Russian’s wrestling.

“Islam, he takes his Sambo and Freestyle Wrestling and he throws in some Jiu-Jitsu techniques. You see, he uses Jiu-Jitsu moves on the ground. So when we looked at our fight, we knew that Volkanovski would be able to get back up,” explained Jones.

Mikey Musumeci To Defend Submission Grappling World Title Against Osamah Almarwai At ONE Fight Night 10

Whether an immediate rematch takes place or not is something that will eventually unfold. But Craig Jones’ claim on the BJJ vs Sambo debate seems to have set the ball rolling on the discussion yet again.

What do you think of his assessment? Have Jiu-Jitsu grapplers finally found a way to compete against Sambo athletes? Let us know in the comment section below.

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