Legendary Jiu-jitsu Star Craig Jones Waging War On ADCC With Competing Invitational Tournament

In the world of combat sports, fighter pay is always a hot topic.

Namely, the UFC has had a ton of backlash in recent years for not paying higher salaries to the fighters on their roster.

These MMA guys are modern day gladiators. They’re stepping into a sanctioned war against another opponent with the common objective of inflicting pain while remaining conscious in an effort to be named victorious. But oftentimes, they aren't compensated fairly for these performances.

But enough on that soapbox for now. Let’s jump into this insane drama unfolding before us in the world of grappling that nobody’s talking about.

The ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship is like the Super Bowl of grappling. It’s held every two years since its inception in 1998. 

In 2022, the event took place in front of 13,000 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. It’s a competition that is still growing, but the ADCC is the most prestigious organization in the world of grappling.

The ADCC awards winners of each bracket a $10,000 cash prize. 

Insert Craig Jones, one of the best grapplers in the world. 

He’s a two-time ADCC silver medalist. He’s a three-time Polaris Pro Grappling Champion. He’s a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt competitor and coach. 

He’s also a disrupter who has taken this issue of fighter pay in the world of grappling by the horns and he’s decided to take matters into his own hands and literally up the ante.

As one of the most notable and popular grapplers on the planet, Jones has been vocal about the $10,000 prize at the ADCC competition being such a low amount to compete for.

So in a real-world version of Michael Scott Paper Company, Jones decided to deliberately compete against the ADCC in an attempt to elevate athlete compensation.

Ladies and gentlemen, we introduce to you, the Craig Jones Invitational. You guessed it. Jones is hosting his own competition. 

While some might call this petty, Jones took measures even further, hosting his competition during the same exact weekend as the ADCC competition, August 17 and 18, 2024.

But it gets better.

Jones’ competition will also be in Las Vegas. While the ADCC will take place at T-Mobile Arena that weekend, Jones went ahead and reserved the Thomas & Mack Center for his own event. The events are just 2.6 miles away from one another, and he’s paying his fighters significantly more.

The winner of each bracket will be awarded $1 million dollars. And Jones is dead serious about that.

He appeared on the “Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show” to promote his new invitational and literally dumped one million dollars in cash on Rogan’s podcast desk.

“I’ve never seen a million dollars in one place,” Rogan said. “I’ve never even seen a million-dollar check.”

To take things even a step further, Jones plans on paying each fighter $10,001 just for participating. It’s a spiteful dollar amount that is poking the ADCC where it hurts. And it’s starting to hurt.

Ffion Davies, who won the ADCC in 2022, flipped over to Jones’ tournament. Former UFC Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold will also compete in Jones’ event alongside other famous grapplers who have flipped their commitment to Jones.

It’s still somewhat unclear about how Jones is affording this. It’s wildly unclear if this event will be profitable. But the purpose behind it does feel incredibly sincere. 

He explained to Rogan that if the ADCC can sell out the massive T-Mobile Arena, just a few short years after starting out in small basketball gyms, then they should be able to increase wages for their athletes who are responsible for this growth.

On top of convincing these top athletes to jump ship, Jones will also be making history that weekend. He announced on Rogan’s podcast that he is set to grapple against legendary, 4x ADCC gold medal winning female grappler Gabi Garcia in a wild super fight showdown. 

“I feel loyal to the athletes,” Jones said. “For what we do, and how much bigger the sport is now, we should be compensated better. That’s why I’ve taken a massive risk in doing this.”