The reigning UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski tested his mettle against Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray, the NBA champion.
Both men have accomplished tremendous things in their respective sports while having to contend with size disadvantages.
Volkanovski and Murray are good friends
At 5’6″, Volkanovski usually faces opponents who are a few inches taller than him, but none of them are nearly as large as Murray.
The basketball player is 6’4″ and weighs 215 pounds, but NBA defenders who are frequently taller and much heavier than him dwarf him.
Murray recently got together with Volkanovski to learn some striking and grappling techniques from the top UFC fighter in terms of power per unit.
Murray was almost a foot taller than his opponent
But it didn’t matter once they hit the mat
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It wasn’t long before the 26-year-old Canadian was ready to test his newly acquired skills and he boldly challenged Volkanovski to try to submit him in 60 seconds.
“I’m just not going to get submitted in a minute,” Murray said.
“You try to submit me in under a minute and I’m just going to try to survive.”
‘The Great’ smiled at the challenge before trying to figure out the rules of their grappling contest.
Murray was happy for him to go full force and try any submission besides leg locks.
Volkanovski has dominated the featherweight division for years
The NBA star’s size didn’t really help him, as was to be expected, and Volkanovski used him as leverage by locking in a guillotine choke right before the game’s buzzer went off.
Murray could be seen tapping out, but it was right on the 60-second mark and Volkanovski decided to give him the win, he said: “I think he made it, you made the minute!”
After a moment of rest, the unlikely friends went back to grappling and Volkanovski made Murray pay for victory by submitting him several times.
At the end of the session, an exhausted, but undeterred Murray, sat against the gym wall and said: “I’ll be better tomorrow.”
Volkanovski added: “Just remember, you’re much better [at MMA] than I am at playing basketball.”
The UFC’s 145lbs king is currently enjoying some time away from camp after stopping interim champion Yair Rodriguez to unify the division at UFC 290 in July.