JRE MMA Show #157 with Craig Jones
Joe Rogan (host), Craig Jones (guest), Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Craig Jones, JRE MMA Show #157 with Craig Jones explores craig Jones Challenges ADCC With Million-Dollar Jiu-Jitsu Invitational Event Craig Jones joins Joe Rogan to unveil the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI), a rival no-gi grappling event scheduled the same weekend as ADCC, backed by a mysterious multimillion-dollar benefactor and structured as a nonprofit with major charitable aims.
Craig Jones Challenges ADCC With Million-Dollar Jiu-Jitsu Invitational Event
Craig Jones joins Joe Rogan to unveil the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI), a rival no-gi grappling event scheduled the same weekend as ADCC, backed by a mysterious multimillion-dollar benefactor and structured as a nonprofit with major charitable aims.
He details a $3M budget with $2.3M going directly to athletes, including $1M for each of two division winners and $10,001 just to show, arguing that current elite grapplers are underpaid relative to ticket sales, streaming, and production spend.
Jones explains his plan to stream the event free on YouTube, introduce a fan-friendly rule set that bridges jiu-jitsu and MMA scoring, and experiment with an “alley” mat design inspired by Karate Combat to eliminate edge resets and force action.
Beyond the event, they discuss steroids in grappling, training culture under John Danaher, Volkanovski’s short-notice Makhachev fight, injuries and overtraining, the economics of seminars and instructionals, and Jones’s irreverent approach to a very serious sport.
Key Takeaways
CJI is directly challenging ADCC on pay and prestige.
Jones is running CJI the same weekend as ADCC with million‑dollar top prizes and $10,001 to show, explicitly to pressure the established “Olympics of grappling” to share more revenue with athletes instead of pouring it all into venues and production.
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The event is designed as a nonprofit with significant charitable giving.
Backed by an anonymous but wealthy jiu-jitsu fan, CJI plans to donate essentially all ticket revenue to various charities—often ones chosen by the athletes themselves—while funding prize money and production from a dedicated $3M budget and sponsorships.
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CJI aims to be more viewer-friendly through hybrid scoring and format tweaks.
Pre-final matches will use three five-minute rounds with judges translating traditional jiu-jitsu scoring into a 10‑point must system and open scoring, making outcomes easier to follow for MMA fans while still feeling familiar to grapplers.
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The “alley” mat design removes stalling space and messy resets.
Inspired by Karate Combat, CJI will use a large 30x40 ft sunken mat with angled walls—“the alley”—so competitors can’t run off the edge, are punished for backing up, and the action proceeds without constant referee restarts.
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Top athletes are already defecting from ADCC to CJI despite risks.
Names like Ffion Davies, the Tackett brothers, Nicky Ryan, Nicky Rodriguez, and Luke Rockhold have committed, and Jones says many legends and current stars are quietly asking to join, willing to risk ADCC repercussions for a realistic shot at life-changing money.
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Jones is leveraging spectacle and humor to grow grappling’s audience.
He’s booking eye‑catching matches like himself vs. ...
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There’s a growing tension between extreme professionalism and self-preservation.
From Danaher’s 365‑days‑a‑year training philosophy to open steroid use, repeated staph infections, and serious injuries like broken legs and neck issues, both men highlight how far top grapplers push their bodies—and how rare it is to prioritize long-term health over short-term glory.
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Notable Quotes
“If jujitsu doesn’t make a profit, we might as well make it nonprofit.”
— Craig Jones
“Their prize money, you have to win four matches to get 10K… we’re gonna do two divisions and pay 100 times that amount of money to the division winners.”
— Craig Jones
“My argument is if the prize money’s there, that becomes the most prestigious event.”
— Craig Jones
“I don’t think you should do 365 a year… I like it when you have an event, whether you win or lose, you don’t train too much after, and you have this period where you miss training and you’re pulled back into it.”
— Craig Jones
“You just take what you do seriously, but you never take yourself seriously.”
— Joe Rogan
Questions Answered in This Episode
Will CJI’s massive prize money and free YouTube stream fundamentally reset what elite grapplers expect to be paid, or will it prove unsustainable after the novelty wears off?
Craig Jones joins Joe Rogan to unveil the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI), a rival no-gi grappling event scheduled the same weekend as ADCC, backed by a mysterious multimillion-dollar benefactor and structured as a nonprofit with major charitable aims.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
If ADCC responds by increasing athlete pay and tightening its business model, does that validate Jones’s approach—or risk making CJI redundant in the long term?
He details a $3M budget with $2. ...
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How might CJI’s hybrid rule set and “alley” format influence other promotions and the evolution of competitive jiu-jitsu strategy?
Jones explains his plan to stream the event free on YouTube, introduce a fan-friendly rule set that bridges jiu-jitsu and MMA scoring, and experiment with an “alley” mat design inspired by Karate Combat to eliminate edge resets and force action.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Where should the ethical line be drawn on performance-enhancing drugs in a sport like no-gi grappling that openly tolerates them but offers relatively small financial rewards for massive health risks?
Beyond the event, they discuss steroids in grappling, training culture under John Danaher, Volkanovski’s short-notice Makhachev fight, injuries and overtraining, the economics of seminars and instructionals, and Jones’s irreverent approach to a very serious sport.
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Is it worth sacrificing opportunities with legacy organizations like ADCC for life-changing one-off paydays, especially for athletes from poorer countries who may never see that kind of money again?
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Transcript Preview
(drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. (gong sound) Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music plays) How you doing? What's going on? I like the one ear side.
Oh, thank you. Yeah, ƒ-
That's professional. A lot of guys do that.
Help my hearing. Hey, it's fading in my old age.
Do you have, um, fucked-up ears 'cause of the cauliflower? Does it fuck up your hearing?
Yeah, just one of them. I thought it was cool until the inner ear started to swell and it was messing with my hearing. And I was like-
Yeah.
I was like, "That's not cool anymore."
Did you get it fixed?
I just face it at the women I'm talking to.
(laughs)
(laughs)
Did you get it fixed or do...
Oh, it eventually drained out, but that's as good as it's gonna get, I think.
Yeah. I've, I always wore, uh, ear guards. I was always scared of the ears. 'Cause it just, it, there, there's a design. Like, it helps capture sound and bring it into your ear.
I didn't know the AirPods were coming. That threw a curveball when I called this one 'cause-
Oh, right.
... I can't use the AirPods now.
'Cause you can't stuff them in there?
I jam them in, but they pop back out.
(laughs) Yeah. You gotta wear over-the-ears. So, uh, let's talk about your tournament.
The tournament. All right.
What, where did, where did this come from, first of all?
Well-
'Cause you've competed at Abu Dhabi. This is what I don't understand.
(laughs)
You're, you're, uh, b- you're gonna go head-to-head with ADCC, which is the biggest-
(laughs)
... grappling organization in the world. By the way, that's Gordon Ryan's belt up there. If you wanna look at it.
Gordon Ryan. Oh, mate. I might take that home with me, hey. (laughs)
(laughs)
How can I get the money to buy it? (laughs) Well, I mean, what started it? Well, obviously you can't win a tournament, you put your own tournament only, you can win.
(laughs)
And probably lose anyway. (laughs) Um, I mean, really, it's for the growth of the sport. We're getting some beef involved, some Tupac, Biggie, Drake, Kendrick energy to this. But really, to compensate the athletes well and to raise some money for charity along the way.
And who's funding this thing?
That's one of those things, you know? Your girl takes a trip to the UAE, sh- she comes back with a handbag. You don't talk about it. You don't ask too many questions, you know.
(laughs) You brought with you, uh, a million dollars in cash, which-
Yeah.
... I've never seen before. I've never seen a million dollars-
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