One of the most intriguing aspects of the Craig Jones Invitational BJJ tournament tonight (along with the $1 million grand prize) was an inter-gender grappling match between the organizer and former IBJJF men’s champion Craig Jones and several-time women’s world champion, Gabi Garcia. The bout, as many suspected, wasn’t very competitive with Jones pulling off a second-round rear-naked choke hold victory.

Among those who suspected the bout would be one-sided is Joe Rogan, who, upon learning of the result from Young Jamie, said that he would be willing to literally bet his house (and all of his other assets) on Craig Jones, had betting been allowed for the grappling match.

“I could’ve told you, if there was betting on that fight [Craig Jones vs. Gabbi Garcia at the CJI], I would have bet everything I’ve ever earned in my life, I would have leveraged it. I would have called banks, I would have called my business manager and said ‘What else can we sell?’ What are the odds? How much am I getting? This is free money unless he [Jones] breaks his neck. Everybody knew [that Jones would win]. Craig Jones is the second-best grappler in the world,” Rogan told his friends on the UFC 305 Fight Companion episode.

This year’s edition of the CJI, of course, was the first in history, and was held in the same city (Las Vegas) and same weekend as the ADCC, often called the Olympics of BJJ. And while the latter remains prestigious, the CJI is hot on its heels after only one edition. But why did Jones need to one-up the ADCC?

How Joe Rogan helped popularize the Craid Jones Invitational

The ADCC, despite being the premiere and most prestigious BJJ tournament, the pay structure was almost insulting to some of the best grapplers in the world. The competitors get no money for participating and the grand prize is a mere $10,000. To change this and make sure grappler get paid what they’re worth, Jones decided to take matters into his own hands.

He found investors and decided to hold his own tournament with much better pay, where the competitors would be paid $1001 for participating (one dollar more than the ADCC grand prize), and a $1 million grand prize for the winner. Joe Rogan, in fact, has been instrumental in helping Jones market his tournament on the JRE podcast, despite the podcast host having sponsored the ADCC two years ago.

What really put the CJI on the map was Jones slamming a million dollars in cash on Rogan’s podcast, a moment which went viral and created a lot of buzz for the Invitational. And with the reviews being largely positive after the first edition of the CJI, it seems the ADCC has some very stiff competition on the horizon.