The Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) is an international

submission grappling Submission wrestling, also known as submission grappling, submission fighting, or simply grappling, is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on ground fighting and submission techniques. It is a hybrid discipline that incorporates eleme ...

tournament organized by Craig Jones. The inaugural tournament was held August 16–17, 2024 at the

Thomas & Mack Center The Thomas & Mack Center is a multi-purpose arena located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada. It is home of the UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team of the Mountain West Conference. History The facility first ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Nevada in the United States. The event was streamed live on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

for free. Nick Rodriguez won the 80kg+ tournament, while

Kade Ruotolo Kade Ruotolo (born January 22, 2003) is an American submission grappler and mixed martial artist. A competitor with his twin brother Tye since the age of 3, Ruotolo is an IBJJF World champion, Pan Am, and European Open champion at every col ...

won the −80kg tournament. The winner in each weight division received $1 million prize money. CJI 2 is planned for August 2025.

Background

Craig Jones from B Team Jiu Jitsu is a two-time ADCC silver medalist. Disappointed with athlete pay at ADCC, he decided to host a tournament in which all invited athletes receive a higher minimum payout ($10,001) than the male winner of ADCC ($10,000). The two men's divisions scheduled for the 2024 tournament were under 80kg and over 80kg, and the winner of each bracket was to be awarded $1 million. Each men's division bracket had 16 competitors. Each participant received $10,001 for competing. On ''JRE MMA Show No. 157'', an episode of

Joe Rogan Joseph James Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American podcaster, Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC color commentator, comedian, actor, and former television host. He hosts The Joe Rogan Experience, ''The Joe Rogan Experience'', which is o ...

's podcast, Jones brought $1 million in cash to promote the tournament. A best submission bonus of $50,000 was announced. The dates and location were selected to overlap with ADCC 2024, which was held August 17–18, 2024 in Las Vegas. Separate from the men's divisions, Craig Jones was scheduled to face

Gabi Garcia Gabrielle Lemos Gabi Garcia (born November 17, 1985) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and grappler. She is one of the most successful competitors of all time in the female black belt divisions, and a member of the IBJJF Hall of Fame. Ear ...

in an intergender superfight, and

Ffion Davies Ffion Davies (born 18 January 1995) is a Welsh submission grappler and mixed martial artist. She is a multiple winner of the IBJJF World Championship, including the no-gi championship in 2023 in both the 61 kg and absolute divisions. Da ...

was scheduled to fight

Mackenzie Dern Mackenzie Lynne Dern (born March 24, 1993) is an American and Brazilian professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner currently competing in the women's Strawweight (MMA), Strawweight division of the U ...

in the women's superfight. A superfight with

Mikey Musumeci Michael Musumeci Jr. (born July 7, 1996) is an American submission grappler and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt competitor. A four-time World Champion and Pan American Champion in colored belts, Musumeci is a five-time IBJJF black belt World Ch ...

was also announced, but ultimately did not occur due to a lack of a contractual agreement with Musumeci's planned opponent.

Mason Fowler Mason Fowler is an American former mixed martial arts fighter, submission grappler, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) black belt athlete. A two-time IBJJF World champion, No-Gi World Champion, European Open and Pan-American champion in colored ...

was scheduled to fight in the over 80kg bracket but later withdrew from the competition due to injury. On December 8, 2024, Jones announced a second Craig Jones Invitational tournament to be held in August 2025, with the 2025 tournament adopting a

Quintet A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...

-inspired team format.

2024

Results

Over 80kg

Under 80kg

Superfights

def.

* Craig Jones def.

Reception

The event raised $500,000 for Tap Cancer Out charity. The event's free

stream was seen by over 100,000 concurrent viewers on both days of competition. The Craig Jones Invitational won both the Promotion of the Year and Fight Card of the Year awards at the 2024 Jits Magazine BJJ Awards.

vs. Andrew Tackett from the event's −80kg tournament won Jits Magazine's Match of the Year award.

References

External links

* * {{Grappling Sports competitions in the United States Martial arts in the United States Grappling competitions Submission wrestling Events at Thomas & Mack Center No-Gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions Sports competitions in Las Vegas International sports competitions hosted by the United States 2020s in Brazilian jiu-jitsu 2024 in martial arts 21st century in Las Vegas 2024 establishments in Nevada Sports on YouTube 2024 YouTube events Social media campaigns