Fighting A Woman For $1M, Ukraine War & Gordon Ryan - Craig Jones
Chris Williamson (host), Craig Jones (guest), Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Chris Williamson and Craig Jones, Fighting A Woman For $1M, Ukraine War & Gordon Ryan - Craig Jones explores craig Jones Disrupts Jiu-Jitsu With $1M Tournament And Chaos Craig Jones discusses launching the Craig Jones Invitational, a rival BJJ tournament offering two $1M winner‑take‑all divisions scheduled directly against ADCC, the sport’s most prestigious event. He argues that grappling promotions have misallocated revenues to production instead of athletes, and wants to prove a financially viable, fighter‑first model while streaming the event free on YouTube.
Craig Jones Disrupts Jiu-Jitsu With $1M Tournament And Chaos
Craig Jones discusses launching the Craig Jones Invitational, a rival BJJ tournament offering two $1M winner‑take‑all divisions scheduled directly against ADCC, the sport’s most prestigious event. He argues that grappling promotions have misallocated revenues to production instead of athletes, and wants to prove a financially viable, fighter‑first model while streaming the event free on YouTube.
The conversation ranges through BJJ culture, steroids, Gordon Ryan’s influence, and Jones’s own persona as a trolling anti‑hero who leverages controversy and humor to grow the sport. He also details recent ‘dark tourism’ trips to Ukraine, Chernobyl, Kazakhstan and elsewhere, using seminars and content to fund soldiers and charities via his Fair Fight Foundation.
Jones announces a headline‑grabbing intergender match with Gabi Garcia, explains his MMA‑inspired ruleset and arena design, and outlines how transparent viewership and cost data could force legacy organizers to justify low athlete pay.
Key Takeaways
A fighter‑first payout model can expose inefficiencies in legacy events.
By putting $2M of a ~$3M budget directly into two winner‑take‑all divisions and using a modestly priced venue, Jones aims to demonstrate that grappling events can be profitable while massively increasing athlete compensation, challenging ADCC’s stagnant $10K prize since 1999.
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Scheduling a rival event against ADCC forces athletes to reveal priorities.
Holding CJI the same weekend in Las Vegas compels top grapplers to choose between long‑held ‘prestige’ and life‑changing money plus greater exposure via free YouTube streaming, as seen in the Tackett brothers leaving ADCC after winning trials.
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Transparency in viewership and costs can rebalance negotiating power.
CJI’s free YouTube stream will expose real‑time numbers—peaks, valleys, and athlete drawing power—data athletes rarely see from subscription platforms, strengthening their leverage in future negotiations and opening questions about where event revenue truly goes.
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Controversy and humor are deliberate tools to grow a niche sport.
Jones leans into trolling, sexual and dark humor, and provocative matchups (e. ...
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Open discussion of PED use acts as harm reduction in an untested sport.
With virtually no drug testing in top No‑Gi competitions, Jones publicly details his own relatively modest TRT/Anavar/Deca stack so younger athletes don’t assume everyone is on extreme doses, preferring transparency over unrealistic “just say no” messaging.
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BJJ’s global network creates unique access for soft‑power and charity.
Using his jiu‑jitsu profile, Jones accessed front‑line units in Ukraine, Chernobyl, and security forces in Kazakhstan, raising money for soldiers and local causes while filming a travel‑doc series that mixes comedy, combat sports, and serious conflict reporting.
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Consumer attention is shifting from ritualized ‘prestige’ to tangible outcomes.
Jones questions the real‑world value of titles that only insiders recognize, arguing that for many athletes—especially Brazilians with language and market barriers—direct financial security and support for family outweigh symbolic lineage.
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Notable Quotes
“You combine having nothing to lose with spending someone else's money—big things can happen.”
— Craig Jones
“ADCC was 10K in ’99 and it’s 10K in 2024. We went from a basketball gym to 10,000‑seat arenas and the grapplers’ pay didn’t move.”
— Craig Jones
“Most people like me don’t go to poor countries. I want to go to the craziest places and keep jiu‑jitsu alive there.”
— Craig Jones
“If you’re in the game long enough, you’re gonna get cracked. Very few make it out and retire at the right time.”
— Craig Jones
“People can say what they will about the war and the politics, but they shouldn’t confuse that with the warrior involved.”
— Craig Jones
Questions Answered in This Episode
If CJI proves financially viable with much higher athlete pay, how will ADCC and other promotions justify their current compensation structures?
Craig Jones discusses launching the Craig Jones Invitational, a rival BJJ tournament offering two $1M winner‑take‑all divisions scheduled directly against ADCC, the sport’s most prestigious event. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Does ‘prestige’ in combat sports hold any real value without broad mainstream recognition, or is it mostly an insider myth that keeps payouts low?
The conversation ranges through BJJ culture, steroids, Gordon Ryan’s influence, and Jones’s own persona as a trolling anti‑hero who leverages controversy and humor to grow the sport. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Could transparent viewer metrics and public PED norms fundamentally change how grappling athletes negotiate, market themselves, and manage their health?
Jones announces a headline‑grabbing intergender match with Gabi Garcia, explains his MMA‑inspired ruleset and arena design, and outlines how transparent viewership and cost data could force legacy organizers to justify low athlete pay.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Where is the ethical line between using shock humor/trolling to grow a niche sport and potentially normalizing reckless behavior to younger fans?
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How will Jones’s experience in active conflict zones like Ukraine shape the kind of stories and causes Fair Fight Foundation chooses to spotlight next?
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Transcript Preview
I have to say, I'm not that interested in Brazilian jiu-jitsu as the sport itself, kind of complex to work out what's going on. But I have been pretty captivated by what's happened over the last few months.
I mean, yeah, full-time trolling. That's my, that's my commitment at this point. You gotta, I mean, you're right, the sport is uninteresting. But it's full of weird characters that can provoke and make it interesting on a surface level. Some of the strangest, most serious people in the world, that take what they do very seriously. But for me, it's a bit weird, it's a bit gay, it's a bit easy to poke fun at. So that's my target in life.
Why do you think Brazilian jiu-jitsu attracts such a particular subset of people?
I mean, it's a good question. I think some of the people were bullied, so it's like an empowerment thing. But then when you climb the ranks and get to the top, it's meant to kill your ego, but it gives you a bit of power. And then these guys take it very seriously. Obviously, in the kimonos, they tie the belts, they've worked hard for it. So I love to provoke it. Also, it looks weird, and they're self-conscious about that. To me, I'd rather embrace that than push back on it.
Right. Because there's no way that you can roll around with another man for up to 45 minutes and it not be a little bit, like-
Homophobic.
... "What are we doing here?"
Yeah, 100%. So it's like everyone's not enjoyed that aspect of it. But me, I own it. I'm comfortable with it. You know? Like, we have to get used to having someone's balls in our face, you know? We're sweating in each other's mouths. It is what it is. We should laugh at it.
You're public enemy number one right now, kind of. What have you done, for the people that don't know what's happening right now in the world of grappling, what have you done?
Yeah, I mean, I have, I have a friend. I'll say a friend, it's an anonymous source. Or maybe I made, made the money through other means. Obviously, we've been going to Ukraine, we've gone to different countries where, uh, perhaps there's different sources of funding. I've been in Dubai, you know, like some go get a handbag, I come back with a few million, you know. Um, and I've used this money to basically support the sport. So I've decided to throw a tournament where we're gonna give away a million dollars to the two divisions, under 80 kilos, over 80 kilos. And that is 100 times more than sort of the other event that people consider the Olympics of our sport. And I've decided to throw it the same weekend to sort of make the athletes choose. Because it's, uh, what's, what's worth more, the prestige of a long-running tournament or money? And I think it's money. And it seems to be proving that, proving that way, basically.
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