Ex-UFC champion Belal Muhammad believes Jack Della Maddalena would have been better served by training with someone from Dagestan ahead of his first defense of the welterweight title.
Six months removed from his title-winning performance against Muhammad at UFC 315, ‘JDM’ had no answer to Makhachev’s heavy attack at Madison Square Garden. After 25 one-sided minutes of action, Della Maddalena surrendered his 170-pound crown to Makhachev, beginning a new era in one of the UFC’s most talented divisions.
Prior to his clash with Makhachev, Della Maddalena notably trained with two-time ADCC world champion Craig Jones.
During a recent interview with MMA junkieMuhammad suggested that ‘JDM’ might have been better prepared for Makhachev if he had spent time training with someone from the Dagestan region instead of a BJJ guy.
“I just saw a similar guy. I knew he was big enough for 170. I didn’t think he would be undersized or anything like that. Those guys, they’re all so strong. They all train with some monsters there. So I don’t think there would be any size that would matter. I guess it comes down to Jack not training with anyone from that region, right?
You could train with Craig Jones, you could train with this jiu-jitsu guy, but the guys from Dagestan, the guys from there… If you’ve never felt it before, you don’t want to know the feeling in the cage for the first time.
Of course, Mohammed may be a little biased, having traveled to Dagestan and training alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov ahead of his title shot with Leon Edwards last year.
Still, we wonder how different things might have been if Della Maddalena had taken a page from Muhammad’s book and trained with someone versed in the art of Dagestani wrestling.
#UFC #champion #explains #wrong #training #JDM #Craig #Jones