UFC 294 latest: How NBA‘s Jamal Murray is helping Alex Volkanovski for Islam Makhachev fight
They might seem like an unlikely match, but UFC powerhouse Alex Volkanovski and NBA star Jamal Murray have bonded over a fierce competitiveness that has taken both to the very top.
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The first time they grappled, in September, Alex Volkanovski submitted NBA championship winner Jamal Murray with ease.
But the Denver Nuggets superstar kept coming back for more, and kept improving.
“We went live (grappling) three days in a row,” Volkanovski tells this masthead. “The first day, I ended up submitting him really quick.
“So the next day, he was like, ‘I’m not letting him do it in under one minute’.
“My goal was to submit him inside one minute, but I was trying to use other submissions. The guillotine was always there, but then my goal was still to submit him, but with something else.”
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By the end of the week, Murray had improved so much that Volkanovski couldn’t catch him.
“I didn’t get him,” Volkanovski says.
“I couldn’t get it, so I ended up doing the guillotine, but it was just after the buzzer.
“So, he won.”
They might make for a fairly odd couple, but it’s a measure of the scope of Volkanovski’s global star power that Murray chose to spend time training at the featherweight champion’s humble gym in Windang this year.
“He’s a cool dude, and we can relate – he’s very disciplined, like I am,” Volkanovski said. “Even though it’s a different sport, he’s fascinated with how I cope and handle certain things. I love that sort of stuff as well.
“He’s just a real cool, humble, chill dude and we get along really well.”
The pair first struck up a friendship when Murray was in Australia a year ago. A big basketball fan, Volkanovski got in touch, and they worked out at Volk’s gym, had lunch then trained on the basketball court.
They stayed in touch, and Murray was in Volkanovski’s dressing room prior to the Australian’s featherweight title defence against Yair Rodriguez in July.
“The mentality they bring to a fight, I’m trying to bring to a basketball game,” Murray told this masthead in July. “If I roll an ankle, or if I dislocate a finger, I try to bring that fighter’s mentality to keep doing what you’ve gotta do.”
Volkanovski won’t have to contend with as big an opponent as Murray this weekend.
On Sunday morning (AEDT), the 35-year-old is rematching lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.
Volkanovski accepted the fight on just 12 days’ notice after Charles Oliviera pulled out.
Makhachev won a controversial decision in their first fight, but Volkanovski doesn’t believe the champion will be able to make the necessary adjustments to go back-to-back.
“His skillset is very good, but it’s specific to his style,” Volkanovski said of Makhachev, who is one of the best wrestlers and grapplers in the UFC. “He’s very well-rounded, but he’s limited in the direction he can take.
“He’s also only had 12 days to do it. In a full camp, I still think his adjustments would be limited from the last fight, but on just 12 days, they’re going to be even more limited.”
Conversely, Volkanovski is one of the most well-rounded fighters on the planet. He has out-grappled jiu-jitsu wizard Brian Ortega, won a kickboxing battle against Max Holloway and out-wrestled Division One wrestler Chad Mendes.
“There’s not a lot of fighters who can literally change their whole style,” Volkanovski said.
“I can change styles in so many different ways, and I can do it on the spot.
“I understand the game so much that I can do that. I’m confident that if I can stick to those changes, that’s the difference in this fight.
“And I don’t think he has the room to make those crazy adjustments.”
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Originally published as UFC 294 latest: How NBA‘s Jamal Murray is helping Alex Volkanovski for Islam Makhachev fight
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