When people talk about Islam Makhachev’s wrestling, they usually describe it as “dominant” or “unstoppable.”

Against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322, the real story was not just the takedowns themselves. It was the reactions Islam forced before the takedowns even happened.

This was not reckless shooting.
It was layered decision-making.

Every defensive reaction from Jack created the next opening for Islam to attack.

By the end of the fight, Islam accumulated over 19 minutes of control time and successfully completed all four of his takedown attempts in four rounds (round 1, 3, 4, 5). Jack only attempted one takedown of his own, and even that moment turned against him immediately.

The deeper you watch the fight, the clearer the pattern becomes:

Islam was never chasing takedowns.
He was building traps.

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The Striking Battle Was Part of the Wrestling

One of the most important details from the fight was how patient and strategic Islam approached his entries.

Unlike what we often see from Khamzat Chimaev, Islam Makhachev did not immediately sprint into takedowns the moment the round started. Instead, he spent the first minute striking, feinting, reading reactions, and slowing Jack’s movement with calf kicks.

Those kicks mattered more than they seemed.

Jack wanted pressure and rhythm in boxing range. Islam repeatedly interrupted that rhythm by attacking the legs and forcing Jack to constantly reset his stance and balance. That hesitation made the later takedown entries much easier to time.

The striking exchanges were not separate from the wrestling.

They were part of the setup.

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Round 1: The First Trap

The first takedown perfectly showed how Islam layers reactions together.

The sequence started with a simple jab feint. Jack respected the possibility of the punch and raised his guard high to defend the head strike. The moment his posture rose and his attention shifted upward, Islam immediately attacked the lead leg underneath.

At first, Jack’s reaction was not even wrong.

He lowered his hands and tried to recover balance against the single leg. Normally, defenders in this situation attempt to create separation from the attacker’s head while hopping backward to free the trapped leg.

But Islam never committed fully to finishing the single leg in a traditional way.

Instead, he immediately transitioned into the next layer of the chain.

Rather than forcing the lift or switch momentum like the battle with Dustin Poirier, Islam switched outside and attacked the secondary leg with a trip before Jack could stabilize his base. By the time Jack recognized the adjustment, the takedown was already halfway completed.

That is what separates elite chain wrestlers from ordinary wrestlers.

Most fighters rely on one clean technique working.

Islam attacks the reactions to the defense itself.

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Open Space Wrestling Changed Everything

Another important detail was where the takedowns happened.

Most fans associate Dagestani wrestling with cage pressure and fence control, we often see Khabib Nurmagomedov used the cage fence to apply pressure and takedown threat. But several of Islam’s entries happened in open space instead of against the fence.

That mattered heavily for Jack’s defense.

Without the cage behind him:

• he could not widen his base against the wall,
• could not use the fence to balance,
• and had far less time to stabilize after the initial shot.

Islam removed the environment many fighters rely on to survive takedowns.

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Round 2: Jack’s Counter Failed for One Reason

Jack’s best defensive moment came in Round 2.

During a striking exchange, Islam entered the clinch and pressured Jack backward toward the fence. Instead of disengaging or circling away, Jack attempted to counter with a cross trip of his own.

For a brief second, it looked successful.

Islam lost balance and began falling.

But the difference between almost working and actually working became obvious immediately afterward.

Earlier in his career, Islam used a similar trip against Charles Oliveira. The key detail was not just the trip itself. It was the upper-body control attached to it, especially wrist control, which prevented Oliveira from posting and recovering balance.

Jack attempted the trip without fully controlling the upper body.

That changed everything.

Even after being knocked off balance, Islam still maintained enough posture and arm positioning to create a base with his hand instead of collapsing flat onto the mat. The moment Jack committed his hips to the counter, he sacrificed his own position while Islam immediately rebuilt pressure on top.

It was a reactive counter attempt without layered control behind it.

Islam survived the surprise and immediately punished the structural weakness in the technique.

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Jack Fell Into the Same Pattern Repeatedly

Rounds 3 and 4 followed a very similar cycle.

Islam would use striking exchanges and feints to keep Jack focused high. Jack consistently expected the boxing exchanges to continue. The moment his reactions became predictable, Islam changed levels underneath him.

The takedowns did not come from reckless shots.

They came from forcing Jack into defensive patterns first.

That was the trap.

Jack respected the striking enough that every feint slowly made his stance more vulnerable to level changes. Islam repeatedly timed the transitions between striking phases and wrestling phases before Jack could reset his balance.

By the later rounds, Jack looked mentally caught between two threats:

• defend the punches,
• or defend the takedown.

Trying to prepare for both made him late for each.

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Round 5: The Final Shutdown

By Round 5, Jack understood he was losing the fight and increased his pressure dramatically.

It was his final attempt to flip the momentum.

But urgency also created openings.

As Jack switched stance and entered aggressively with punches, Islam immediately changed levels into a double-leg attempt. Jack tried to sprawl, but his hips never got low enough to stop the drive.

Once Islam connected his hands and pushed through the entry, the fight effectively ended there.

The last round summarized the entire fight perfectly:

• Jack chased offense,
• Islam punished transitions.

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Why the Octopus Guard Failed Against Islam

The takedowns were important at UFC 322, but what truly decided the fight on the scorecards was what happened afterward.

Islam repeatedly controlled Jack on the ground for long stretches, slowly draining rounds away through pressure, positional control, and wrist trapping. And this is not something unique to Jack. Even elite submission specialists like Charles Oliveira struggled once Islam established top control.

Jack clearly understood that danger coming into the fight. That is why the appearance of Craig Jones in his training camp became such a major talking point before UFC 322.

For fans unfamiliar with the name, Craig Jones is one of the most respected Australian BJJ and grapplers in modern no-gi competition. Known for his creative guard systems, leg lock attacks, and highly technical instructionals, Jones built a reputation through elite grappling tournaments like ADCC and by competing against some of the best submission grapplers in the world. Over the years, he also became known for developing unconventional positions and escape systems designed specifically to deal with heavy pressure grapplers.

And during the fight, we could see signs of that influence immediately through Jack’s use of the octopus guard.

The octopus guard is a half-guard variation designed to create escapes, reversals, and scrambles from bottom position. The position becomes dangerous once the bottom fighter can:

• build posture,
• sit up onto the elbow,
• create angles, and
• connect their hips underneath the opponent’s center of gravity.

Once those layers connect together, the top player can suddenly lose balance and lose control of the position.

In theory, it is an effective answer against pressure-heavy grapplers.

But against Islam, the guard never fully developed.

Throughout the fight, Jack repeatedly got stuck underneath Islam in half guard. Every time he attempted to build into the octopus guard, Islam interrupted the process early. The key detail was the crossface pressure. Islam constantly applied heavy pressure across Jack’s head and neck while mixing in ground-and-pound, which kept Jack flattened on the mat and prevented him from building the posture needed for the sweep or escape.

Whenever Jack tried to rise onto his elbow or turn into the position, Islam immediately blocked the momentum with head control and upper-body pressure before the guard could become dangerous.

And even during the few moments where Jack nearly succeeded, Islam already had another layer waiting.

As Jack began turning his base upward and trying to fight against the crossface, Islam transitioned into wrist and arm control, famously known as the “Dagestani handcuff”. That grip shut down the final stage of the escape. Instead of allowing Jack to post, rotate, or connect his hips underneath for the reversal, Islam trapped the arm and killed the movement before it could fully develop.

That was the real story of the grappling exchanges.

Islam was not simply escaping the octopus guard after it became dangerous. He prevented the position from ever reaching its dangerous phase in the first place.

The result was a suffocating cycle:
Jack spent energy trying to build posture and movement, while Islam continuously flattened him back down and recycled control over and over again.

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Final Thoughts

What made Islam’s wrestling look unstoppable at UFC 322 was not raw aggression.

It was layered decision-making.

Every takedown came with:

• a striking setup,
• a forced reaction,
• and a secondary answer ready for the defense.

Jack was not simply “taken down.”

He was repeatedly guided into defensive choices that created the next opening for Islam to attack.

That is what elite chain wrestling looks like at the highest level of MMA.

And against Jack Della Maddalena, Islam Makhachev turned that system into a slow, suffocating trap.