Craig Jones recaps ADCC 2026 from a philosophical and spiritual perspective - What were his favourite moments and what is the state of competitive jiujitsu going forward?
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Support:
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#cji #cji2 #jiujitsu #bjj #nogi #CJI #cji2 #craigjones #craigjonesinvitational
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00:00Everyone has messaged me about ADCC.
00:02Some people thought I was going,
00:03some people thought I was competing.
00:05Fuck, no.
00:06Did I try to watch the matches?
00:08Yeah.
00:08Did I watch all the matches?
00:10No.
00:11It's like watching fucking Titanic 17 times in a row.
00:15What surprised me, first and foremost,
00:18I don't even like talking about this guy.
00:19This is endearing.
00:21It's like, I've never related to a man more.
00:23Gordon Ryan was drunk from his camp.
00:27He shows up, he's falling asleep coaching.
00:29Then he sees a scuffle that happens on the side,
00:34jumps up, runs over there, misses a punch,
00:37gets taken down, gets stomped out by a bunch of Kazakhs.
00:40He didn't do any more damage to him
00:42than what's already visibly there.
00:44He says he did a technical get up.
00:46They got off of him and then he went back to coaching.
00:48He's one of us.
00:49That's exactly what we would have done.
00:51We would have tried to intervene and failed at all costs.
00:55What do I think of Dorian's dad getting punched in the head?
00:58He said, fuck yes.
01:00This, this shit, he did this at beating.
01:04Dorian tried to roll with the guy that was fresh off ACL surgery and was like,
01:07no, I don't want to roll with you.
01:09And Dorian's dad was like, mm, mm, mm.
01:11And then they waited for this guy in the car park.
01:13And then Dorian's dad left before we could kick him out.
01:16So, like, to see this fucking tiger mum of a Mexican fucking descent getting knocked the fuck out by my
01:28boy Alibi,
01:30my Kazak god, that, I mean, that trumps anything that happened over the entire weekend.
01:35I don't, no one won double gold that I'm aware of.
01:37I mean, there's no 80cc openweight division for women.
01:41Adele's the last one to do that.
01:44But, fuck, it was fun.
01:46I went on a bender and I tried to stay awake with a jiu-jitsu weasel, fuck, Adam Bradley.
01:51We tried to watch it.
01:52Adam Bradley stayed awake till bloody 9am.
01:54He watched the whole thing.
01:55He was locked in.
01:55I watched a few matches.
01:57What can I say about the event?
01:58Bearing in mind me, having never won anything at all in my life, been completely unqualified in anything to do
02:05with jiu-jitsu mastery,
02:09I'm a master of clout.
02:11And in the war of clout between UFC BJJ and ADCC, ADCC in Poland was, despite, again, its length,
02:20despite, again, having 1,007 resets, despite a Russian man winning 77 kilos,
02:27historically the most exciting division in the world, without submitting anyone.
02:32I mean, it was better than anything UFC BJJ's done.
02:37And, like, I don't want to just shit on UFC BJJ.
02:40Like, I mean, I've shit on ADCC forever.
02:42Like, I came in hard with UFC BJJ.
02:45I want UFC BJJ to work.
02:46I want the sport to be exciting.
02:48ADCC, I don't know if it's through sheer volume,
02:51but there are much more exciting moments in a single ADCC weekend.
02:56More memorable things happened this weekend.
02:59Specifically, Gordon's failed attack on Gaza, greatest country in the world,
03:05the sport of potassium, and Dorian's dad getting knocked out.
03:08Like, remove that.
03:09It's still better than anything, more memorable than anything that UFC BJJ has ever done.
03:16Again, it's not perfect ADCC by any means.
03:20You know, there's room for improvement.
03:21But yeah, it was exciting.
03:22I mean, again, I didn't watch all the matches, but some stars were made.
03:26There are no stars being made in the UFC.
03:28That's like Harvey Weinstein shit.
03:31You know what I mean?
03:32You go over there, they promise you the world, you sell your soul.
03:35It is what it is.
03:36You get to sit in the crowd and the camera comes over to you and you go,
03:42I'm a UFC, not fighter, grappler.
03:44No one knows who you are.
03:46I mean, apart from Mikey Musumichu, no grappler in UFC BJJ.
03:50Their following count has changed it all.
03:53Like, again, let's talk about clout.
03:55What we're after in this game is clout.
03:58Specifically, the ones that want to make money.
04:01If you want to win gold medals, you could do it that Russian way, you know?
04:05But nobody's going to remember that.
04:06What are you going to do?
04:07Show your matches to your kids?
04:09It's going to take three days.
04:12Like, a 40-minute final is under no circumstances.
04:15Like, if we, again, I stole rounds in the template must from boxing and fucking UFC.
04:25I stole the pit from karate combat.
04:27We got some excitement going.
04:30You know, there was something real.
04:31The athletes wanted to be paid.
04:33We wanted to be paid more because we sold out Vegas arenas.
04:37Now it's in Poland and the athlete's getting paid more money.
04:40That's all I care about, really.
04:42Like, that new prize money.
04:45Like, by all means, I'm not taking credit for it, but the athletes are getting paid more money.
04:50UFC BJJ is paying guys a stable income.
04:54I don't know if you've ever dated a woman before, but stability isn't always the most exciting thing.
05:01It doesn't produce the most memorable relationships.
05:03And that's how I feel about ADCC.
05:06That shit was never perfect.
05:08It isn't perfect.
05:09And it's still better than UFC BJJ.
05:12And for everyone that goes, oh, but if you're a UFC BJJ champion, you get a stable income.
05:17You get a call out the ADCC champion.
05:20Guess what the fuck that means?
05:23That means that you need to beat the ADCC champion to validate your Power Rangers belt.
05:30And you cannot steal the tournament's clout.
05:33The tournament is a marathon.
05:36If you beat the ADCC champion, those guys go through hell to win that.
05:41I go through hell to come second in that tournament.
05:43But you don't just, like, automatically have an ADCC title because you beat that person.
05:50Like, that's what I truly felt.
05:53It's like CGI, we gave away a million.
05:56People will do a lot of things for a million dollars.
05:59I do have a new gambling sponsor coming up.
06:02I will do a lot of things for a million dollars.
06:04So ADCC felt, it felt real.
06:09It felt like it mattered.
06:11UFC BJJ might take a decade to matter.
06:14It might win.
06:17But an ADCC weekend is a crazy special thing.
06:22And I could be the first to not appreciate Moe enough for what he did.
06:26Like, obviously, I did CGI for a reason.
06:29But, yeah, if he comes back into this 2028 Brazil, I hope he does.
06:34I will attend that.
06:36Poland.
06:37I've talked a lot of shit about Poland.
06:40I hate to say, it was a good event.
06:41I don't know how the competitors were treated.
06:43My former teammates didn't really do ADCC.
06:47They were signed to UFC BJJ.
06:49Someone that won ADCC called for a UFC BJJ contract.
06:54I know you're excited.
06:55That's not, that's disrespectful, you know.
06:57Like, they put a lot of effort into that event.
07:00Flo did good.
07:02I mean, I don't know where their expectations were.
07:05It exceeded it.
07:07It exceeded what I thought it would be.
07:08And, again, did it make stars?
07:11Yes, it made stars.
07:13Did CGI make stars?
07:15Yes.
07:16Is UFC BJJ making stars?
07:19No.
07:20Name three champions.
07:21What, Andrew Tackett, Mikey Musumichi, and then checking Google?
07:25That's what I thought.
07:26ADCC.
07:27That Marlon motherfucker.
07:29I've rolled with Pouya.
07:31Whatever the fuck he did to that guy, that's impressive.
07:33That's a leg that's hard to fucking break.
07:35I love Pouya.
07:36I'm going to say, like, Pouya, even if I didn't, because he scared the fuck out of me.
07:40Philippe Pena, incredible, absolute performance, man.
07:43Guy's a dog.
07:44He just competed against Mary Garland.
07:46Guy's a dog.
07:47Like, we just have these moments.
07:49You're putting these guys through hell.
07:50Like, imagine, like, the end of a 40-minute match.
07:52Like, ADCC was special.
07:54It was a significant event.
07:56It is ADCC.
07:57A lot of people thought I killed ADCC.
07:59You can't kill something with that much legacy, that much prestige, and that much clout on offer.
08:03But again, the clout only goes so far.
08:05You can make a name for yourself even if you lose.
08:09You can make a name for yourself even if you lose.
08:12Remember that.
08:13I built my whole career.
08:14The currency is clout.
08:16Whether you like it or not, go out.
08:19You have an opportunity.
08:20Be exciting.
08:21To be honest, it's basically, if you game the system and game the stalling, it's like,
08:26yeah, you can force a bunch of resets and time your shots.
08:29You turn into Lance Armstrong out there.
08:31Yes, some of those guys are on ungodly amounts of steroids.
08:36That's, I mean, that is what it is.
08:38Like, it's borderline impossible to win without it.
08:41I'm not saying you can't win without it.
08:43I mean, Dan Schwart, I hate him.
08:46He's got extra chromosome.
08:48He did well.
08:50I mean, you don't even have to have a balanced amount of chromosomes to do well in ADCC.
08:54And I like that.
08:56I wish I could tell.
08:56I was happy for him.
08:57I was sad for Declan.
08:59I was sad for Joseph.
09:01Joseph didn't go in 100%.
09:03No one ever does.
09:04If anything, like you go in 100%, you fucking didn't train hard enough.
09:08Probably most of those guys had were wounded going in.
09:11And Doreen, as much as I think his father's going to absolutely destroy his career, every
09:18fucking relationship he ever has in life, men and women, he is champion material.
09:23Like, he's legit UFC champion material.
09:25That guy is going to go far.
09:27Let's hope his dad doesn't fuck everything up for him.
09:29You know what I mean?
09:30Like, you're doing this in the corner of a UFC.
09:34You're probably going to get Dylan Dennis.
09:36You're going to get Khabib Eagle kicked.
09:39He should settle down.
09:40He's not in the arena.
09:41He's not the man in the arena.
09:42Sure, the Kazakh guy bit Doreen.
09:44I mean, I smothered a guy's face one time like Doreen did.
09:48Eddie Bravo yelled out for the guy to bite me.
09:50I'd be angry if I got bit.
09:51I'm a pussy.
09:52I probably wouldn't slap the guy.
09:53But again, I can't keep, I keep circling back.
09:56Like, honestly, Ali B, the guy had a water bottle and headphones.
10:01How many, how many fights has he been in that he didn't drop the headphones?
10:05You know what I mean?
10:06He got fucking flying.
10:07Like, he's hitting people with a steel water bottle.
10:10And Ali B just fucking knocks him out.
10:13And then he says he slipped over.
10:15That thing was hilarious.
10:16You know, like, I'm not for that.
10:17Like, when, when, when Raf has shit like that go down, do I think it's good for the sport?
10:21Depends on what happens to it.
10:22I will say that.
10:23Depends on what happens to it.
10:24Do I wish I was there?
10:25No.
10:26Like, I mean, it would have been a better alternative than waking up at fucking 4am
10:29or trying to stay awake till 4am.
10:31You know, this rivalry is good for the sport.
10:33Whether we do a CGI again or not, maybe we don't need it.
10:37You know, ADCC proved their value.
10:40Bo comes back 2028.
10:42Everyone's going to want to be a part of it.
10:43I can assure you that.
10:45UFC BGJ, I have nothing against you athletes.
10:49I did the same thing.
10:51Submission Underground.
10:53I hand-picked my matches in Submission Underground.
10:55Chael Sonnen.
10:56Respect to him.
10:57Mason Fowler came in and ruined my cash cow up in Portland, Oregon.
11:01But again, like, you should be able to do both.
11:04At the end of the day, I was taking easy matches, Submission Underground.
11:08I took on Dennis Holman, who's probably my dad's age.
11:12You know, I got paid well for that.
11:14Probably paid more than some of the UFC BGJ athletes today.
11:16I get what you guys see, stable income.
11:21Is it stable enough that your clout is going to stay strong after you cannot grapple anymore?
11:31If you want to be a star in this sport, you need to do the biggest advance.
11:34And that was a spectacle.
11:36And that gave you opportunities to fight multiple times.
11:39There was tension in the air.
11:42UFC BGJ has three people in the crowd.
11:45They're on the right track.
11:46They have rounds.
11:47They have a perimeter.
11:49That is an awfully great start.
11:51If ADCC had that, that'd be the best event in the world.
11:54I do think we need to work something out where it's not over two days
11:57and we don't have to wait two years for it.
11:59That's too long, you know.
12:01But that, I mean, I went after them.
12:04CGI went after them.
12:05I was trying to get athletes paid.
12:07It might look like I was trying to kill them and wound them and took things personally.
12:10We all did.
12:12But I don't want ADCC to cease to exist if the alternative is UFC BGJ.
12:17I think even if you took all the athletes from ADCC and put them in UFC BGJ, it wouldn't have
12:21been as exciting as that.
12:23And that's what we've got to work out.
12:24That's what you guys making your career decisions right now got to work out.
12:27Because I'll tell you that personally, I've made more money off of jiu-jitsu instructionals and sponsorships just by being
12:36who I am
12:37and what I post on social media, whether it's true or not.
12:40And you guys in UFC BGJ, I'm not shitting on it.
12:44It could be better.
12:45I'm not shitting on it.
12:46You guys have taken a safe route.
12:49Respect to you.
12:50You were picked because it is an American-based organization.
12:54They're getting American talent.
12:55The Taggart brothers.
12:56I mean, Mika didn't do it.
12:58We'll probably know why.
13:00There was no Diego Hayes.
13:02Again, he wasn't in it.
13:03A lot of remaining champions didn't return.
13:05Victor Hugo, I don't know if he retired from ADCC or retired from competition, but he went out on top.
13:11He created moments out there, you know, unforgettable moments.
13:15UFC BGJ is not doing that.
13:16What do we have coming up?
13:18We have Nicky Rod versus Mason Fowler for the light heavyweight belt.
13:22A lot of people don't know that.
13:24This event is actually on Fight Pass.
13:27They used to have the UFC invitation on Fight Pass.
13:30It's no longer free on YouTube.
13:32Maybe our sport can't sustain a free model despite the sponsors the UFC BGJ has.
13:36But are you really going to subscribe to it?
13:39That match happened before they acquired the beautiful bowl.
13:45That match has already happened.
13:47And the main event is Bryce Mitchell.
13:50Mikey is going to mop the floor with him.
13:52What does that do for your legacy?
13:54Mikey is getting clout, but he is doing media reps.
13:57He's debating about how gay he is against Bryce Mitchell.
14:01He spent an hour and a half debating about his sexualities.
14:05And they both lost.
14:06I'm pumped. ADCC is back.
14:08I think it's back.
14:09I think it's back and I think it's great.
14:11Because what you just saw this weekend matters.
14:15And it matters in a way you cannot even define clearly.
14:21Paid in exposure.
14:23I think you're being paid in legacy.
14:25You're being paid in moments.
14:26The crowd was bigger than I expected.
14:29I enjoyed it.
14:30I'm sure in chunks people enjoyed that.
14:34There's enough good matches there.
14:36There were some fucking god-awful ones.
14:38But every organization has them.
14:40CJR 2 is full of them.
14:41We just need to work out for the sport's future how to have more moments like that.
14:47Because, I mean, nothing's crazier than the ADCC absolute division.
14:52I don't think I've ever...
14:53No, I did it once.
14:54And I was drunk.
14:55And Moe offered me Chael Sonnen first round.
14:58And then at another ADCC, they gave Kainan 12 penalties and put me up.
15:05They even tried to make me win.
15:06And at the time, I thought it was so corrupt I had to start another organization.
15:09I didn't agree with it, you know?
15:10I thought Kainan fairly won it.
15:13I've got to process.
15:13I've got to watch these matches.
15:14I've got to attempt to watch them.
15:15You guys in the comments, tell me which matches I must seize.
15:20I'd like to think there was a limit on how many times I could watch that little scuffle.
15:24That scuffle's hilarious, honestly.
15:25I like Gordon Moore now.
15:28Of all things that happened at ADCC, the former greatest pound-for-pound, the GOAT,
15:32ran to stop a scuffle.
15:33He got taken down.
15:35I think he was throwing a punch.
15:37I don't even know what he was doing.
15:38I mean, he was asleep in the stands.
15:40It was a big DM match, so I mean, most of us were asleep anyway.
15:44But he ran over there.
15:45I don't know what happened.
15:47It's hilarious.
15:47But he failed completely.
15:48He got dragged away.
15:49And power to him.
15:50He went back to coaching.
15:52The scuffle was over.
15:53Dorian's dab was dead.
15:54People were saying Dorian should be able to do the absolute.
15:57I don't think so.
15:59A guy cheats.
16:00He bites you.
16:00Check the replay.
16:01DQ that guy.
16:03Don't slap that guy in the head.
16:04Slap that guy in the head.
16:06Shit could go down.
16:08Especially with Kazakhs.
16:10Especially with Dagestanis.
16:12You tow the line.
16:14You tow the line.
16:14Dylan Dennis taught us that.
16:15He didn't take much damage, but he taught us a valuable lesson there.
16:18But yeah, that's all I've got to say after I'm waffling on here.
16:20Just because I'm, I don't know how much.
16:23I probably look tired.
16:24And that's because I've been masturbating a lot.
16:27It's Alibi's punch.
16:29Alibi's my goat forever now.
16:31That's the real goat.
16:32He stopped that fight with a flying eagle kick and a left cross.
16:37And he took down an armed man.
16:40A man armed with a water bottle and a set of headphones.
16:44I don't know if the headphones were meant to be a shield.
16:47They did not work.
16:50God bless ADCC.
16:52That shit was sick.
16:53UFC BTGA.
16:54Pick up your game.
16:56No one cared.
16:57The sport's alive.
16:58I thought I'd maybe killed it.
17:00I've killed many teams.
17:02Many relationships.
17:03Many friendships.
17:04I thought I killed ADCC.
17:06ADCC ain't dead.
17:08And UFC BTGA just went behind a paywall.
17:10So my friends, we have a battle.
17:13UFC BTGA have got two years.
17:16Because the second Mo says he's doing it in Brazil.
17:20And I'm promoting it.
17:22Well, my friends, we've got a fight on our hands.
17:26If I have to shave my head and go bald.
17:29It might happen anyway, Dana White style.
17:32If Mo does ADCC 2028, I will compete in it.
17:36That's how much of a tie we've turned here.
17:38Mo takes over UFC BTGA, I will not compete in it.
17:40If I take over UFC BTGA, ADCC can get fucked itself.
17:44That's where we stand.
17:47That's where we stand.