Maddalena’s Coach Defends The Islam Game Plan – ‘It’s A Plan We Will Use Again’

“The game plan was movement, but I feel like we never got the movement going.  We had sort of routes to the feet, on the floor, but for whatever reason, we couldn’t start executing and getting to the first point of those routes. Islam did such a good job. And I don’t want to go too much into the game plan, because it’s a game plan we will use again. I don’t think there was an issue with the game plan, just the execution,” Vickers said 

Meanwhile, former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko wanted Jack Della Maddalena’s grappling coach, Craig Jones, to apologize for his pre-fight taunts directed at Islam Makhachev’s sambo style. Jones had repeatedly mocked Makhachev’s combat sambo, stating it was an inferior art to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as he promised to prepare Maddalena for the win. Emelianenko, who is known for his own background in sambo, believes Jones should hold his hands up and apologize. 

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