Fedor Emelianenko calls for Jack Della Maddalena’s coach to apologize for Islam Makhachev taunts after UFC 322

Heavyweight MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko slammed Jack Della Maddalena’s grappling coach, Craig Jones, for his taunts ahead of UFC 322.

Jack Della Maddalena’s first UFC welterweight title defense was a disaster as the titleholder lost to Islam Makhachev by a lopsided unanimous decision at UFC 322. Maddalena failed to stifle Makhachev’s relentless wrestling, fading as the fight went on and failing to significantly damage the former lightweight champ.

In the leadup to UFC 322, Maddalena’s longtime grappling coach Craig Jones had repeatedly dismissed Makhachev’s combat sambo style. He promised to prepare Maddalena to expose Makhachev’s style en route to a dominant performance, which didn’t pan out in the Octagon.

In light of Jones’s comments, Russian heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko believes it’s time for the brash coach to admit he was wrong about combat sambo.

Fedor Emelianenko calls for Craig Jones to apologize after UFC 322

In a recent interview with Red Corner MMA, Emelianenko reacted to coach Craig Jones’s critiques of combat sambo in light of UFC 322.

“Of course (we can say it was a win for combat sambo),” Emelianenko said.

“Islam has a sambo background and he makes it famous. He said it himself in interviews, it was a good lesson from him so that they would not say bad things about sambo. Sambo proved to be one of the best bases for MMA.

“I guess everything fell into place, (Craig Jones), I don’t even know what to say, he should probably give a sincere apology as his words haven’t been confirmed.” (h/t Bloody Elbow)

Jones shared a brief exchange with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Makhachev in the Octagon at UFC 322 that went viral on social media. Makhachev called for Jones and Maddalena to learn how to wrestle Dagestani style moving forward.

In the meantime, Makhachev and Nurmagomedov are riding the high after UFC 322 and have proved that combat sambo remains a foundational piece for elite MMA.