Islam Makhachev Reveals What He Told Jiu jitsu great Craig Jones: “Come Dagestan for 2-3 years.”
Islam Makhachev just made history at UFC 322, becoming one of the rare fighters to hold titles in two different weight classes. He walked out of Madison Square Garden on November 15 with the welterweight belt after absolutely dominating Jack Della Maddalena for 25 minutes. When it was all over, Makhachev had a message for the guy in Della Maddalena’s corner.
Islam Makhachev’s Jab at Craig Jones After Historic UFC 322 Win
Craig Jones was there coaching Della Maddalena through the fight, and Makhachev made a beeline for him afterward. In the post-fight press conference, Makhachev explained what he said: “I told him your jiu-jitsu is not working. You have to come to Dagestan for 2-3 years.” Jones took it well. According to Makhachev, Jones started laughing and even told Khabib he’d make the trip.
The comment carries weight because this isn’t the first time Makhachev has faced someone under Jones’s coaching. Before Della Maddalena, Makhachev beat Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284, and Volkanovski had been training extensively with Jones before moving to welterweight. That makes two of Jones’s high-profile fighters now on the losing end of Makhachev’s grappling.
Makhachev took Della Maddalena down in the first minute and basically stayed on top for the rest of the night. When judges scored it, they had it 50-45 across the board. Della Maddalena kept defending against submission attempts but couldn’t do much else. By the fifth round, his legs were shot from calf kicks, and he was just trying to survive.
Makhachev felt the difference right away. At the press conference, he talked about how much better he felt fighting at this new weight class. “I feel more power, I feel more confident when I strike and when I move,” he said. “I can control anyone on the ground right now. I never felt like this before.”
The real tension here goes deeper than just Makhachev and Jones. Makhachev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz didn’t hold back after the fight. In an interview with Fox Sports, Abdelaziz went after Jones hard: “This Craig Jones, please deport him brother. He makes guys lose. He’s not good for MMA. Jiu-jitsu is not good for MMA.” He later said Jones was “nobody” and just a jiu-jitsu guy trying to stay relevant through MMA fighters.
There’s a philosophical divide at play here. Jones comes from the pure Brazilian jiu-jitsu world with submission-heavy techniques. Makhachev’s approach is built on wrestling and sambo, more about control and pressure than chasing submissions. In the cage against someone like Makhachev, the submission-first strategy didn’t work for Della Maddalena.
Craig Jones is a two-time ADCC World Championship silver medalist who has competed at the highest levels of submission grappling. In 2017, he had one of the most impressive runs in ADCC history, submitting legendary 5-time world champion Leandro Lo, respected coach Murilo Santana, and UFC veteran Chael Sonnen before falling in the semifinals. Jones is a three-time Polaris Pro Grappling champion and has one of the best submission records in the sport, with 51 of his 63 wins coming by submission. He was the first Australian male to win an IBJJF World Championship in 2015 at purple belt and holds a degree in behavioral science. In the jiu-jitsu world, his credentials are sterling.
Makhachev is now on a 16-fight winning streak, tying Anderson Silva’s UFC record. With back-to-back title belts and this kind of dominance on the ground, his comment about Dagestan training carries the kind of authority that comes from results. Jones laughed it off, but the scorecards don’t lie.
