BJJ star Craig Jones dumped a million dollars of cold, hard cash on a table on Joe Rogan‘s podcast last May. And just like that, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world was changed forever. This one million dollars was the prize money for the Craig Jones Invitational, a BJJ tournament that was supposed to rival the ADCC, the most prestigious event in the grappling world. But alas, the ADCC, which many call the Olympics of BJJ, pays competitors peanuts. In 2023, the reward for winning the event was just $10k for the men’s division and an even paltrier $6k for the women’s division.
And Jones, through the CJI, hopes to change that. Hence, the million-dollar prize for the winner came into being. The first CJI event last August went remarkably well, getting good press, and Rogan regularly tuned into it on his live stream for the UFC 305 card. And this year, the second edition of the CJI is set for August again.
While the event would be in a unique team format this year, it would have a ‘super-fights’ section. And one of those super-fights would be Jones taking on Olympic gold medalist wrestler, Gable Steveson in a BJJ match. This was revealed by the two-time ADCC silver medallist in a post on his Instagram account. “Time to answer the age-old question, is wrestling gayer than jiu-jitsu?” the ever-funny Jones captioned an equally funny announcement video. The grappler-cum-BJJ-promoter didn’t stop there, though. “I choose my opponents like I choose women. I wait for a moment of vulnerability,” Jones wrote in a comment on the post.
Jones, of course, is referencing Steveson’s incredible, last-minute upset loss at the hands of Wyatt Hendrickson in the 2025 NCAA Championship Finals last month. Hendrickson was two points behind the Olympian in the last minute of their contest. But somewhere somehow, the US Air Force Second Lieutenant found the sheer force of will to take down the University of Minnesota wrestler with just seconds to go and win the fight.
Daniel Cormier rightfully called it the “biggest upset” in NCAA wrestling history. And the irreverent Jones is taking a shot at both the Olympian’s loss and himself for picking an ‘easier’ opponent. But all jokes aside, Jones, as usual, has made an excellent choice. Steveson’s loss to Hendrickson is the biggest story in the sporting world at the moment.
A lot of people are following his every move right now. And having him on CJI would bring a lot of new eyeballs. Who knows, maybe some of those wrestling or MMA fans will even begin to follow BJJ. And Jones does want desperately to make the sport more exciting, which is clear from the rules for this year’s CJI.
Why have the rules for Craig Jones Invitational 2 delighted fans?
The reasons Jones started CJI were to make BJJ athletes make more money and break the ADCC’s monopoly. Last year, the CJI was held in the same city and on the same weekend as the ADCC. This naturally divided the BJJ world. If you were a grappler, you had to choose! ADCC with its prestige and history, or the CJI with much more money. And last year, for the most part, the biggest stars such as Gordon Ryan, chose the ADCC.
But the Australian grappler plans to change this by making the CJI even bigger and more exciting with a team-based format for CJI 2, which is set for August 31. The event will return to the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, where the 33-year-old defeated IBJJF Hall of Famer Gabbi Garcia in an outrageous inter-sex super-fight.
“Last time we found out who the two best athletes in the world were. That was Kade Ruotolo and Nicky Rod, and we paid them both a million. Now we’re gonna find out who is the best team in the world. ATOS, New Wave, B-Team, Checkmat, Gracie Barra, 10th Planet, whatever teams, and let’s see who truly is the best team in the world. Quintet-style, the last man standing,” Jones said in December 2024 while announcing CJI 2.
So instead of individual athletes competing in a win-or-go-home format, some of the biggest BJJ gyms will compete across five weight classes. This time, the event will be held in partnership with Quintet, a Japanese promotion that puts on MMA and BJJ fights. Under the Japanese promotion’s rules, two fighters grapple until one gets submitted. The submitted opponent is replaced by another opponent, while the winner stays on. If none of the grapplers can get a submission, both are eliminated.
In short, it gives grapplers great incentive to look for submissions as soon as possible. This would be a welcome change since stalling and lack of action is a problem some fans complain about. What do you think about Craig Jones announcing his super-fight with Gable Steveson at CJI 2?
The post BJJ Icon Admits Picking Gable Steveson for a ‘Superfight’ Based on ‘Moment of Vulnerability’ After Huge NCAA Upset appeared first on EssentiallySports.