Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) is a BJJ competition featuring the world’s best BJJ grapplers and a $1 million grand prize.
CJI 2025 will be held on August 30th and August 31st in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Thomas & Mack Center. Craig Jones, a member of the B-Team Jiu-Jitsu, created it.
On this page, you’ll find everything you need to know about CJI.
Craig Jones Invitational: Quick Links
- 2025 Event Details
- How to Watch
- Dates & Schedule
- Tickets & Venue
- Teams & Brackets
- Rules & Format
- CJI 1 Results
- Event History
- CJI Discussion
Craig Jones Invitational 2 2025: Key Info
How To Watch CJI 2025
You can watch Craig Jones Invitational 2 on The B-Team YouTube channel starting Saturday, August 30th, 2025.
CJI 2025 Dates & Schedule
- Day 1: Saturday, August 30, 2025
- Day 2: Sunday, August 31, 2025
The exact start times for each day have not yet been released. I will update this page when the schedule is released.
CJI 2025 Tickets & Venue
Craig Jones Invitational 2025 will be held in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
If you are in the USA, you can buy tickets here starting at $75.
If you are not in the USA, you can buy tickets here.
CJI 2025 Bracket & Results
CJI 2 will follow a team-based format consisting of eight teams.
Here are the teams and athletes confirmed so far:
- New Wave / Kingsway Jiu-Jitsu (Coach: John Danaher)
- -66kg: Dorian Olivarez
- -77kg: Internal trials winner (TBA)
- -88kg: Giancarlo Bodoni
- -99kg: Luke Griffith
- +99kg: Dan Manasoiu
- B-Team Jiu-Jitsu (Coach: Dima Murovanni)
- -66kg: Ethan Crelinsten
- -77kg: Jozef Chen
- -88kg: Chris Wojcik
- -99kg: Nicky Rodriguez
- +99kg: Victor Hugo
- 10th Planet (Coach: Eddie Bravo)
- -66kg: Geo Martinez
- -77kg: Alan Sanchez
- -88kg: PJ Barch
- -99kg: Ryan Aitken
- +99kg: Kyle Boehm
- Atos (Coach: Andre Galvao)
- -66kg: TBA
- -77kg: TBA
- -88kg: TBA
- -99kg: TBA
- +99kg: Felipe Pena
- Team Misfits Australasia (Coach: Lachlan Giles)
- -66kg: Fabricio Andrey
- -77kg: Levi Jones-Leary
- -88kg: Lucas Kanard
- -99kg: Declan Moody
- +99kg: Belal Etiabari
- Team Misfits Americas (Coach: Greg Souders)
- -66kg: Deandre Corbe
- -77kg: TBA
- -88kg: TBA
- -99kg: TBA
- +99kg: TBA
- Team Misfits Europe (Coach: Faris Benlamkadem)
- -66kg: Owen Jones
- -77kg: Pawel Jaworski
- -88kg: Paul Ardila
- -99kg: Charles Negromonte
- +99kg: Marcin Maciulewicz or Frederic Vosgrone (TBD)
- Team 8 (Coach: TBA)
- All weight classes: TBA
There will also be a superfight between Craig Jones and Olympic gold medalist wrestler Gable Stevenson.
The bracket for CJI 2 has not yet been released. I will update this page as soon as it is released.
Results will be posted live here starting on Day 1 of CJI 2.
CJI Ruleset
The CJI ruleset is designed to encourage more action and submission attempts, setting it apart from more traditional BJJ competitions like ADCC.
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Match Length | 3×5 min (regular), 5×5 min (finals), 1 min rests |
| Scoring | 10-point must system, round-by-round |
| Submission | Ends match immediately |
| Legal Techniques | All chokes (except windpipe), all locks, can opener, Twister, Full Nelson |
| Slamming | Allowed only to escape submission |
| Illegal Techniques | No spiking, striking, gouging, hair pulling, etc. |
| Judging | Aggression, action, submission attempts prioritized |
| Competition Area | Karate Combat-style pit |
CJI 1 Results
CJI 1, the first Craig Jones Invitational, was held on August 16-17, 2024, at the Thomas & Mach Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For the over 80kg category, Nicky Rodriguez of The B-Team won the 1M dollar prize, beating out opponent Felipe Andrew in the final. Nicky Rodriguez finished 100% of his matches using the rear-naked choke.
For the under 80kg category, Kade Ruotolo of Atos won the $1M dollar prize, beating out opponent Levi Jones-Leary in the final. Kade Ruotolo vs Andrew Tackett, the semi-final of the under 80kg division, has been called the greatest grappling match of all time.
There were 16 total competitors in each bracket. Each competitor received $10K simply for showing up and competing.
CJI 1 was widely praised for some of the most exciting grappling matches in the history of BJJ, amassing over 3.5 million views on YouTube.
You can watch day 1 and day 2 of CJI 1 here:
CJI 1 Day 1
CJI 1 Day 2
History of Craig Jones Invitational
Craig Jones started the Craig Jones Invitational as a response to the lack of financial opportunities for professional BJJ athletes.
He wanted to directly challenge top BJJ competitions like ADCC, where winners would make $10K (compared to $10K for just showing up at CJI). CJI provides 100X the prize money compared to its next biggest competitor in ADCC.
In addition to offering more money than ADCC, Craig Jones also held CJI 1 during the same weekend as ADCC, taking both athletes and attention away from ADCC.
Craig also presented CJI as a non-profit event through the Fair Fight Foundation. Fair Fight Foundation does charitable work to help elevate the sport of jiu-jitsu around the world, promoting its many benefits to communities in need.
On the Joe Rogan Podcast, Craig confirmed that an anonymous wealthy person provided $3 million to fund CJI. There are rumors around who funded it — from crypto casinos to Mark Zuckerberg — but none have been confirmed.
CJI Discussion
Personally, I’m a huge fan of CJI.
I watched several hours of CJI 1 in 2024. I can’t wait to do the same this year.
I found it much more exciting than other BJJ competitions like ADCC.
Craig Jones is an incredible marketer. You can’t deny the man knows how to put on a show.
What are your thoughts on the Craig Jones Invitational?
Do you think the theatrics are good for the sport of BJJ?
Or do you find it too much of a show and not respecting the traditions of BJJ?
Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on anything related to CJI.
I’d love to know what you think!
And if I missed any important details about the event, please let me know.
I’ll be updating this article live as CJI 2025 unfolds.
Happy rolling. 🤙
Tsavo Neal
Tsavo is the founder of BJJ Equipment, author of BJJ For Beginners, creator of the BJJ Missions app, and a brown belt instructor at InFighting. He launched BJJ Equipment to help grapplers at every belt level train smarter, make faster progress, and find the best gear for their game.