PERTH, Australia – Alexander Volkanovski is more than ready for Islam Makhachev’s ground game.
Featherweight champion Volkanovski (25-1 MMA, 12-0 UFC) will attempt to become a two-weight champion when he challenges lightweight title holder Makhachev (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) in Saturday’s headliner at RAC Arena. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
One of Volkanovski’s main training partners has been Craig Jones, a multitime IBJJF world championship medalist and 2019 ADCC runner up. When asked during the UFC 284 pre-fight press conference if he’d rather tap or go to sleep when put in a compromising position from Makhachev, Volkanovski said he’s more than ready to escape.
“I had one of the best grapplers in the world put me in these positions for 16 weeks straight – a bigger, stronger guy than him putting me in these positions, one of the best submission artists in the world,” Volkanovski said at Friday’s pre-fight news conference. “So to think I won’t be prepared for that is silly. I ain’t tapping. I ain’t going to sleep. I’m getting out and I’m putting hands on him, and that’s that.
“I know I’m doing everything I need to. I’m not putting rounds in for the sake of it. I do specifics. I do details. We studied him – obviously you’ve got to respect your opponent to really know what they’re good at. Supposedly, he doesn’t respect me as an opponent. He’s thinking I’m going to be easy. I hope he did do his research like we did because you need to with fights like this.”
Jones told Submission Radio he can envision Volkanovski catching Makhachev with a heel hook, but Makhachev says Jones is giving him a false sense of security.
“He brought some guys from jiu-jitsu, but this is not the same,” Makhachev said. “This is not going to be jiu-jitsu. This is going to be MMA pressure to the ground. He feels like Craig Jones cannot control him on the ground, but this is different.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 284.
