Craig Jones Invitational


The Craig Jones Invitational is an international submission grappling tournament organized by Craig Jones.
The inaugural tournament was held August 16–17, 2024 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States. The event was streamed live on YouTube for free. Jones defeated Gabi Garcia in an intergender superfight, Nick Rodriguez won the 80kg+ division tournament, and Kade Ruotolo won the −80kg division tournament. The tournament winners in each weight division received $1 million prize money.
The Craig Jones Invitational 2 was held August 30–31, 2025, returning to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. CJI 2 featured a $1 million team-based grappling tournament won by The B-Team, an openweight $100,000 women's tournament won by Helena Crevar, and a non-tournament superfight which saw Craig Jones defeat Chael Sonnen. The B-Team and Team New Wave initially fought to a draw in the team tournament final before The B-Team were declared the winners by decision; after controversy over the decision, both teams were to be awarded $1 million but Team New Wave were ultimately not given the prize money.

2024

Background

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 than the male winner of ADCC.
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'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 in an intergender superfight, and
Ffion Davies was scheduled to fight Mackenzie Dern in the women's superfight. A superfight with Mikey Musumeci was also announced, but ultimately did not occur due to a lack of a contractual agreement with Musumeci's planned opponent. Mason Fowler was scheduled to fight in the over 80kg bracket but later withdrew from the competition due to injury.

Results

Over 80kg tournament

First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalWinner

Under 80kg tournament

First RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalWinner

Superfights

  • Ffion Davies def. Mackenzie Dern
  • Craig Jones def. Gabi Garcia

    Reception

The event raised $500,000 for Tap Cancer Out charity.
The event's free YouTube 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. Kade Ruotolo vs. Andrew Tackett from the event's −80kg tournament won Jits Magazine's Match of the Year award.

2025

Background

On December 8, 2024, Craig Jones announced a second Craig Jones Invitational tournament to be held in August 2025, with the 2025 tournament adopting a Quintet-inspired team format. The event streamed live for free on the FloGrappling YouTube channel.
The Craig Jones Invitational 2 was held August 30-31, 2025 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
CJI 2 was a two-day event, featuring an eight team tournament, an openweight women's tournament, and a superfight between Jones and Chael Sonnen. A total of 46 athletes were scheduled to compete at the event.
Teams in the $1 million team-based grappling tournament consisted of five grapplers, each representing a different weight class.
Eight teams of five athletes competed; participating teams were: Team 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, The B-Team, Team New Wave, Team Atos, Team Europe, Team Pedigo Submission Fighting, Team Americas, and Team Australasia.
The $100,000 four-woman tournament featured: Helena Crevar, Adele Fornarino, Ana Vieira, and Sarah Galvão.
Gable Steveson later claimed that he withdrew from the event not because of an injury but rather because Jones asked him to throw their superfight. Jones denied Steveson's claims, with Jones alleging that Steveson's withdrawal was orchestrated by the UFC as an attempt to interfere with CJI2.

Teams

Coaches

Team tournament

Women's tournament

Superfight

  • Craig Jones def. Chael Sonnen

    Reception

Night 1 of the event was criticized for a lack of action, with UFC BJJ athlete Mikey Musumeci declaring the event's team format as "boring".
The Craig Jones Invitational 2 itself won the Fight Card of the Year award at the 2025 Jits Magazine BJJ Awards, while Sarah Galvão vs. Ana Vieira from the event's openweight women's tournament won Jits Magazine's Match of the Year award.