The 2024 Craig Jones Invitational came to a stunning conclusion last night as not only did two of the sport’s most talented stars become millionaires, but the event itself made history as one of the most-watched grappling tournaments the world has ever seen.
Whilst the intergender grappling match between Craig Jones and Gabi Garcia might have been controversial in its build-up, there’s no doubt that the 2024 Invitational has been a rip-roaring success for both the sport and its biggest superstars.
Photo by B-Team Jiu Jitsu/YouTube screengrabCraig Jones Invitational Results: Two million dollars and a place in the history booksThe 2024 Craigh Jones Invitational culminated in four fantastic matches last night; two super fights and two tournament finals – the latter of which each held a grand prize of $1 million cash.
In the over 80kg finals, Nicky Rod defeated Fellipe Andrew via rear-naked choke in the first round; his fourth consecutive RNC submission win in the tournament, with Kade Ruotolo earning the UD win over Levi Jones-Leary in the under 80kg category.
In the first of two super fights, Ffion Davies was able to secure the second-round armbar submission win over UFC fighter Mackenzie Dern; with Craig Jones also earning a round two win over Gabi Garcia in a match that’s been rightly classed as the ‘most watched event in grappling history’.
Craig Jones forces Gabi Garcia to ‘tap-out’ in the second round of their exhibition match via rear naked choke, marking the first-ever “inter-gender” jiu-jitsu match at this event – Craig Jones Invitational (#CJI).
The match recorded a milestone 150,000 viewers. And Craig Jones… pic.twitter.com/CHo8kW6Ol7
— Nosy Buzzer (@NosyBuzzer) August 18, 2024 View Tweet
Craig Jones celebrates the success of the 2024 InvitationalSpeaking to reporters after the conclusion of the event, Craig Jones would celebrate not only the submission win over the legendary Gabi Garcia but also the success of the 2024 Invitational overall as a history-making event for combat sports.
“It feels good, obviously Gabi’s a legend for jumping into this – I mean this is just for the athletes really, the people that currently run ADCC don’t really treat the athletes very well and Gabi’s participation in this has robbed her of her Hall of Fame when she’s already won four world titles.
WOW: Du Plessis’ head coach accepts Alex Pereira callout and suggests possible date“But more than that, that was to draw in the mainstream audience; I’m happy we’re able to secure funding to pay Nicky Rod a million dollars… This event was crazy, a million dollars got everyone hyped and I couldn’t ask for better energy than this.”
Whilst there had been a certain expectation that Jones would earn the victory via his patented leg-lock, the Australian almost locked in a twister before eventually finding the RNC in the second round.
Luckily, the submission specialist seemed open to the idea of running it back sometime in the future, especially given how positive the response has been from the global grappling community compared to the ADCC program.
“Couldn’t get it ey, [her] big braids got in the way, but I’d do it again, I’d do it again… I’ve had death threats from ADCC from the organizers which is crazy, just ridiculous… I don’t even think that event is worth talking about really, they’re over there fighting for some breadcrumbs.”
Jones reiterated that the final set of bouts at the 2024 Invitational were likely the most-viewed grappling matches in the history of the sport as he noted that the event overall couldn’t have gone much better from a promotional standpoint.
“That’s going to be the most viewed match in the history of the sport… I don’t think it could’ve gone any better, the matches were exciting, the crowd was intense.
UFC 305: Results and reaction as Du Plessis submits Adesanya to retain UFC middleweight title
“And we’ve went head-to-head with an event that’s been selling tickets for two years and we still did a really good sell-out here tonight… I think it’ll be the most viewed grappling event in history.”
Yet Jones isn’t satisfied with simply resting on his laurels, he wants the next Invitational to have its own separate women’s tournament, and he hopes the attention gained from both his match with Garcia and Dern’s clash with Davies sees more female-focused sponsors come on board.
“It’s hard to get funding [and] I didn’t want to do a women’s division just to pay them less so I was like ‘Let’s put on the best women’s fight we can ever put on’, to show how exciting the women are, and then I can use that to leverage sponsors to give them a proper million-dollar division [next time].”
A reminder that the entire event is available to watch via YouTube for free – the Garcia vs Jones grappling match can be found around 2 hours and 57 minutes into the stream.
KO: ‘Don’t Blink’ calls for flyweight title shot following brutal first-round win over at UFC 305Related Topics
Source : BloodyElbow