For so long, the whole Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world revolved around ADCC, an elite tournament with elite competition. But now, former 2-time ADCC silver medalist, Craig Jones has come up with his Craig Jones Invitational, which has become the talk of the BJJ world of late. You may not believe it, but the prize money in CJI is way more than that of the ADCC, which is often dubbed the holy grail in submission grappling.

The Craig Jones Invitational will commence on 16th August and end on 17th August, featuring top names like Luke Rockhold, and Nick Rodriguez, among many others. Meanwhile, Jones recently spoke on some facts about ADCC’s competitors, which were mind-boggling, to say the least, while explaining how things will go down at CJI.

Are ADCC competitors jumping ship to CJI?

The whole notion behind Craig Jones’ submission grappling contest is for athletes to get paid more, something that’s been a major setback in the ADCC. While chatting to Derek from ‘More Plates More Dates’ on his podcast, the former 2-time ADCC silver medalist would reveal that CJI will have two divisions – one below 80 kg (176.370 lbs) and one above 80 kg with the million dollars on the line, compared to ADCC’s $10,000.

“Two 16-man divisions – under 80 kilos [and] over 80, and the winner of each gets a million dollars. For an average jiu-jitsu tournament like ADCC, which is kind of like the Olympics, it’s 10k to win [in] a 16-man division,” Craig Jones revealed on ‘El Segundo Podcast’. Thereafter, on Derek’s inquiry, the former ADCC silver medalist would reveal that almost every grappler under the 80 kg category has jumped ship from ADCC and more than half of the above 80 kg weight class did the same.

“Because we only did two divisions, I’d say, in the under 80 kgs division, almost every single one of those guys is from ADCC. In the over 80 kgs division, I’d say 60 percent,” Craig Jones further stated. In addition to that, he’d also reveal the tactics that the people over at ADCC used to retain competitors. While the prize money remains the same, the ADCC officials would help these grapplers get some form of sponsorship or business deals, enabling them to make more than the $10K.

“What ADCC did to convince to stay or at least the organizer, instead of raising the $10K prize money, he just secured them secret show money deals that are allegedly far greater than the prize money,” Craig Jones added. Meanwhile, the 33-year-old has always had issues with Abu Dhabi-based competition surrounding their payout tactics, and guess what? Craig Jones Invitational and ADCC will be taking place on the same dates, a clash to look out for.

ADCC and CJI dates clash

So, Gordon Ryan will be returning to compete in two super fights. Yes, you’ve heard it right, two fights – one on the 17th of August and one on the 18th of August. However, fight fans will have the additional option of witnessing the action of the final day of CJI, which has been the talk of the town with many notable names on the cards. This could inadvertently take some eyes away from Ryan’s first ADCC fight.

Now, why would Craig Jones put up the event on the same date? Well, for once we know that he’s got some history with Gordon Ryan, as they’re both rivals. However, the real reason behind it was that the ADCC didn’t up the prize money. “Ultimately, what I want and what I wanted from day 1 was just athletes across everything in Jiu-Jitsu to be compensated just a little bit more,” Jones stated recently on the Joe Rogan Experience.

It remains to be seen if the 1 million dollar prize would lure more grapplers to compete in Craig Jones International as we wait to see how both events fare in terms of revenue in the coming days. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.