Alleged Death Threats on BJJ Legend & Joe Rogan Guest From ADCC & Rivals Reps After $1M Invitational Opens New Controversy

Craig Jones‘s beef with the ADCC (BJJ’s premiere invitational tournament) and the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world has taken another interesting turn. The former ADCC silver medalist, who has long complained about fighter pay and conditions in the tournament, announced earlier this month that he is starting his rival tournament called the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) with a grand prize of $1 million for the winner, which is ten times the prize money of ADCC. Jones also went on Joe Rogan‘s podcast and talked about his new tournament.

Since the announcement of CJI, Jones has been involved in a feud with the likes of Mo Jassim, the Head Organizer of the ADCC. Now, another player has entered the feud as well, as BJJ promoter Seth Daniels has sent Jones a threatening message, promising he would “kill him [Jones]” if Jones called him out publicly like he had called out others in the BJJ world.

Jones took to social media and posted a video with a screenshot of the death threat and gave his reaction to it. Not taking it too seriously, he quipped “They would rather pay hitmen than pay their fighters”. Jones also suggested that Daniels should work on his anger issues.

“Brother relax on the death threats. If you’re getting this hot and bothered I’d recommend journaling, daily affirmations, or even a nice hot bath and some @dido,” the post read.

Craig Jones carries $1 million cash prize to Joe Rogan’s podcast

ADCC is the most prestigious tournament in all of BJJ. Called the Olympics of BJJ, ADCC has been going strong, holding an event every two years, since its inception back in 1998. But the Jones-led CJI seems to be spelling trouble for the tournament. Along with the million-dollar grand prize (which Jones carried in cash to Rogan’s podcast to prove he was serious), there are other ill omens for the ADCC.

In fact since CJI (like ADCC) is an invitational event and is only open to the best and most accomplished BJJ practitioners in the world, the new tournament will give $10k to all fighters simply for participating. This is equal to the entire prize the winner of ADCC receives.

To make matters worse, the first CJI tournament will be organized in the same city and on the same weekend as ADCC (i.e., 17-18 August in Las Vegas). It is not surprising, therefore, to see notable names already defect to the new tournament.

The prestige and the history behind the ADCC mean that the tournament holds more esteem in the BJJ world. But with the advent of CJI, which promises far more money, the ADCC would be wise to reconsider some of the decisions that it has made over the years.

Otherwise, as more and more fighters defect to the CJI, as likely to happen, the biannual tournament may slowly find itself becoming a second-tier tournament compared to the newcomer. And that would be a shame for everyone in the BJJ world.