Alexander Volkanovski just proved that sometimes, you really can’t buy your way out of a submission, even if you’re an NFL offensive lineman that’s built like a giant. The UFC featherweight champion recently got Philadelphia Eagles star Jordan Mailata to tap during a grappling challenge, and the size difference was absolutely ridiculous.

Mailata, a Super Bowl champion and fellow Australian, stands 6-foot-8 and weighs around 365 pounds. Volkanovski? He’s listed at 5-foot-6 and 145 lbs. That’s a 220-pound difference. And somehow, in the clip uploaded to NFL’s YouTube channel, it was the smaller man who had the bigger man looking for an escape.

“I’ll start off in like a sort of headlock position, and then we’re just going to sort of go from there,” Volkanovski told the offensive lineman before they got started.

But ‘The Great’ wasn’t exactly planning to win a wrestling match against a man who outweighs him by more than 200 lbs. Speaking into the camera, Volkanovski admitted he had a different idea.

“There ain’t no chance that I’m actually gonna hold him down,” Alexander Volkanovski said. “I might be able to get a submission, so I’m gonna try and go guillotine off the get-go.”

And the 37-year-old wasn’t bluffing. The moment Jordan Mailata went down on his knees, ‘The Great’ got to work, controlling the Eagles star from the front before locking in the guillotine.

Mailata then did something that looked like it belonged in a superhero movie: he picked Alexander Volkanovski completely off the ground. But the UFC featherweight champion didn’t plan to let go. He stayed locked onto the submission attempt as the lineman tried to find a way out, eventually forcing the 365-pounder back onto the mat.

Once they hit the ground, Mailata still couldn’t shake him. ‘The Great’ kept the pressure on, and the Eagles star eventually had no choice but to tap.

The scene was very similar to the time when Volkanovski teamed up with Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray for a grappling challenge back in 2023, which also ended with ‘The Great’ working his way to Murray’s back and securing a buzzer-beating guillotine choke.

Now, the new 2026 clip is a pretty perfect example of why size and strength only get you so far in grappling. Jordan Mailata had the power to literally lift Alexander Volkanovski off the ground, but ‘The Great’ had the positioning, leverage, and submission knowledge to make all that size count for very little.

And the guillotine wasn’t even the only combat test Mailata signed up for. The grappling challenge was part of a series of tests involving the Eagles star.

First, the lineman went head-to-head with ‘The Great’ on a punch machine before taking body shots from the former UFC featherweight champion.

He also got to put his football skills to work, protecting a dummy from Volkanovski’s advances. Because apparently, getting punched, taking body shots, and getting submitted wasn’t enough for one day.

Mailata took it all in good spirits, but he also seemed to be having a few second thoughts about signing up for the whole thing. And honestly, after getting punched, taking body shots, and being choked out, who could blame him?

The featherweight champion, meanwhile, has been keeping himself busy with more than just UFC training. ‘The Great’ has recently been working with several other high-profile athletes, including former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Adesanya recently stopped by Sydney’s Freestyle MMA Performance Centre, where Volkanovski trains, adding another big name to the list of athletes getting a taste of the Australian fighter’s world.

‘The Last Stylebender’ is now trying to get his career back on track after a difficult run that has included losses to Sean Strickland, Dricus du Plessis, Nassourdine Imavov, and Joe Pyfer. The former two-time UFC middleweight champion has since parted ways with City Kickboxing and is working with a new team as he looks to return to winning ways.

Brazilian lightweight Mauricio Ruffy has also been spending time alongside Alexander Volkanovski after leaving the Fighting Nerds team. Ruffy has won two straight fights since his loss to Benoit Saint-Denis, most recently scoring a knockout over Michael Chandler at UFC Freedom 250.

‘The Great,’ of course, has made plenty of trips to Auckland to train with Adesanya, Dan Hooker, and other elite fighters. But this time, his technical lessons were being delivered to someone a little different: a Super Bowl champion who outweighed him by more than 200 pounds.

So, maybe this experience will now help him with his much-awaited return to the Octagon that he believes still has some positives despite the frustrating waiting period.

Alexander Volkanovski wanted a much earlier return to the Octagon

Alexander Volkanovski had been dropping hints about Movsar Evloev being next in line for his featherweight title, and now, the UFC has made it official. The two will now go one-on-one at UFC 333 on October 24.

However, ‘The Great’ recently revealed that he had hoped to get back in the Octagon a little sooner, with August or September initially on the table. But the UFC eventually let him know that October was the month, so the 37-year-old had to wait a little longer for his next title defense.

The Aussie wasn’t exactly thrilled about waiting until October, though. In a video on his YouTube channel, the featherweight champion explained that he would have preferred to fight sooner. Still, he managed to find a silver lining: he’d get to defend his title after turning 38.

“They’re like, ‘Ah look, I don’t think we can do it. It’s going to have to be Abu Dhabi in October,’” Volkanovski said. “I was like, ‘Far out, okay. All right, whatever.’ So, that’s what it’s going to be, but then I was like, at least I’m going to be 38.

“I feel like I get to be 38 defending a title… I thought that was cool. I’m like, ‘Oh, well, at least if I had to wait for one or two months, I’m glad at least it’s after my birthday.'”

‘The Great’ has been leaning into the “old man Volk” persona for years, often using it as fuel to show that he can still hang with the younger guys. And while he’s honest about not being the exact same fighter he was in his prime, he’s not exactly ready to start acting his age either.

The 37-year-old remains confident that he can put on another elite performance when he returns to defend his title.

“Look, I’m an honest man, and I sit there and be like, I know I’m not in my prime,” he said in the same video. “Am I the same fighter, exact same fighter? No, I’m not.

“But, I believe you’re going to see a prime performance. You’re going to sit there, watch this fight, and say, ‘Volk’s still in his prime.'”

Now, Alexander Volkanovski gets to put that belief to the test against Evloev, an unbeaten contender who has built a reputation as one of the featherweight division’s toughest matchups. ‘Old man Volk’ vs. ‘The undefeated problem,’ October 24 can’t come soon enough for fight fans.