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The world of high-level jiu-jitsu competition just grew a little more interesting.

Australian grappling ace Craig Jones is a longtime black belt and elite competitor, a two-time silver medalist at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) tournament, widely regarded as the highest stage in jiu-jitsu competition. Jones will not be returning for the 2024 ADCC event, however, because he’ll be holding his own invitational tournament scheduled for August 16 and 17, directly competing against the ADCC event.

Why? On the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) website, Jones described his tournament as “A nonprofit dedicated to elevating sport and athlete compensation, while simultaneously raising money for charitable causes.“ In other words, Jones isn’t impressed by the prizes offered by ADCC and other organizations like IBJJF and is trying to raise the stakes. He’s offering up a $1 million grand prize in two separate weight classes, above and under 80 kilograms.

As part of the promotional effort, Jones appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show podcast. He wouldn’t reveal his financial backer, but Jones did offer one form of proof that he’s secured funds: dumping $1 million in cold hard cash all over Joe Rogan’s desk! It stunned the UFC color commentator, who remarked, “I’ve never seen a million dollars in one place! I’ve never even seen a million dollar check.”

Jones has already convinced several top talents like Nicky Ryan, Mason Fowler, and Nicky Rodriguez, to jump ship from ADCC to the CJI. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight king Luke Rockhold will be there competing too! Oh, and Jones himself will be grappling legendary female grappler and undefeated MMA fighter Gabi Garcia in a wild super fight match up.

Sounds like an event worth watching?

Insomnia

A fun bit of back story to a UFC 302 “Prelim” fight:

Report: PRIDE OG Enson Inoue is suspected of drug smuggling.

Julian Erosa has to be the most unpredictable fighter on the roster. He’ll look bad in two out of three appearances then stunt on a really good fighter and make it look easy.

For the IPA drinkers reading:

I think people are taking Joaquin Buckley’s social media yapping way too seriously, Cub Swanson included. He gets an impressive amount of info wrong here, but who cares?

Niko Price has an incredible gift for hurting people in silly ways.

This photoshopped picture of Khamzat has been making rounds online — don’t believe the lies!

Jiri Prochazka is back in public, longing for the dark and empty room.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Entered the pocket with his lead hand by his hip …

The start of the Machida era.

It didn’t produce a finish, but a picture-perfect wheel kick into a faceplant feels worthy.

Random Land

Give her a Strawweight title shot.

Midnight Music: Soul, 1965

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

Former Bellator MMA Welterweight champion, Douglas Lima, has re-upped on a multi-fight, multi-year contract that will seeing him stay with the promotion for the foreseeable future. Per a press release, the promotion announced that “The Phenom” inked an extension recently, which will now likely give him the opportunity to fight on both Bellator and Professional Fighters League (PFL) events.

Lima was last seen defeating Costello van Steenis at Bellator 296 via unanimous decision in a Middleweight affair. It was a much-needed win for the former champion, who had previously lost four straight, two at Welterweight, one at Middleweight and one at a catchweight.

Lima lost his 170-pound title to Yaroslav Amosov at Bellator 260 in 2021. Prior to his four-fight skid, Lima enjoyed an excellent run that made him one of the faces of Bellator, going 6-1 and defeating the likes of Michael Page, Paul Daley and Rory MacDonald, whom he defeated at Bellator 232 in Oct. 2019 to win the Welterweight Grand Prix, as well as the division title.

The 26-year old striker — who has been signed with Bellator for 13 years now — hasn’t competed in over a year but he is expected to return to action before the end of 2024. Bellator has six events scheduled for the remainder of the year (see the schedule here), so there will not be a shortage of options for the Brazilian bomber to make his return.

Care to offer up a suggestion or three?

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For all the latest PFL and Bellator MMA news and notes click here and here.

Ronda Rousey isn’t returning to the mixed martial arts (MMA) world.

The most influential woman in the sport’s history saw her career come to a screeching halt in early 2017. Rousey’s never-before-seen dominance in a 12-fight stretch set the world ablaze and unceremoniously ended via a Holly Holm head kick at UFC 193 in 2015.

One year later, Rousey returned to try and reclaim gold against the new champion, Amanda Nunes, at UFC 207 in December 2016. “Rowdy” kept quiet between the fights and continued to remain as such after another tough loss before heading to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Rousey has recently touched on the end of her MMA career more than ever before with the release of her new book, Our Fight. However, receptions to some of her comments haven’t been received too well. In response to Rousey recently claiming she’d be booed if she went to another UFC event, her ex-boyfriend, Brendan Schaub, disagreed.

“That’s not the narrative on you in the public eye,” Schaub said on Thiccc Boy. “If Ronda walks the streets, no one’s booing her. No one’s being mean to her. That’s not real, that’s in her head. I think also, she hasn’t talked to anybody in the MMA space. I guarantee you [Joe] Rogan would have her on. Guarantee you Luke Thomas would have her on, Ariel Helwani would have her on. The main dudes in the space would have her on. She’s not reaching out to them, she’s just, ‘Oh, they hate me.’ No, no, no. Matter of fact, I bet all three of those guys I mentioned are cool with you. You might not be cool with them for whatever reason, I don’t know, but I guarantee they’d give you a fair shot. No one’s going to be mean to you. It would go a long ways for your career.

“Ronda’s a sweet girl, sweet lady, she’s done so much for the game, I don’t know who she’s surrounded with, I’m not saying Travis [Browne], that’s different,” he continued. “Her management team, PR (public relations) team, she has the same manager as [Dwayne] ‘The Rock’ [Johnson] … Whoever’s directing her to take this narrative of playing victim, all of that s—t is not the way to go. She just needs to face it head-on.”

Despite the recent shots taken by Rousey toward Schaub, the former UFC Heavyweight contender places more of the blame on Rousey’s team than herself. A fellow magnet to criticism during and after his MMA career, Schaub believes it would be the best thing for Rousey to own up to any shortcomings and give credit where it was due on the opposite side of her results.

“She’s acting like she’s the only one that people critique,” Schaub said. “No, everyone gets this. That’s the game.

“It’s the same thing over and over,” he continued. “To keep doing these interviews the same way ain’t the way to go. Figure it out. You’re talking about one of the greatest athletes to ever compete. F—k male, female, you’re talking one of the greatest ever. Judo, UFC, Strikeforce, ever. I know it didn’t end well. All good. A lot of peoples’ careers don’t end well.

“This poor me story. No one’s feeling sorry for you,” Schaub concluded. “You’re one of the greatest to ever do it. Whoever is telling you different, fire ‘em. Show a little humility, say I f—ked up here.”

Arman Tsarukyan has done pretty well for himself in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Currently ranked as the No. 1 Lightweight contender, Tsarukyan seemingly has his first career title shot secured after a big split decision win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 last month (April 13, 2024). Unfortunately for Tsarukyan, the offered UFC 302 title shot against the champion, Islam Makhachev, after his win was on too short of notice set for this weekend (Sat., June 1, 2024). Instead, perennial top contender, Dustin Poirier, will challenge the champion.

It would be a rematch with gold on the line should Tsarukyan challenge Makhachev after a Poirier win. Makhachev welcomed Tsarukyan to the promotion when they first fought in April 2019. It was a short-notice opportunity for Tsarukyan, and despite the split decision loss, he’s proven to be a legitimate elite 155-pound fighter. However, the champion believes he’s owed some gratitude for how things have played out.

“I think Arman should thank me, I signed him for a fight against me,” Makhachev told UFC Eurasia. “I wouldn’t call it a close fight even though many people say it was. I won every round. Arman still calls for a rematch. He had many opportunities to come out as a substitute. I know that before UFC 302 he was offered to fight me, either way, our rematch is inevitable, we’ll settle this soon.”

Since the Makhachev bout, Tsarukyan has gone 9-1 (22-3 overall). He’s won four in a row after a closely contested unanimous decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot in June 2022.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 302 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 302: “Makhachev vs. Poirier” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.

Dustin Poirier has had some of the toughest title fight opponents a fighter could imagine.

That won’t change for “The Diamond” at UFC 302 this weekend (Sat., June 1, 2024). Poirier, 35, gets his third crack at the undisputed UFC Lightweight title when he challenges the champion, Islam Makhachev.

Although Poirier (30-8, 1 no contest) has never won the big one, he did hold the interim title after he defeated Max Holloway via unanimous decision in their April 2019 rematch. The victory led Poirier to his first undisputed title tilt against the then-champion, the undefeated dominator, Khabib Nurmagomedov. Poirier came up short via a third round rear-naked choke in the bout and will once again have to deal with Nurmagomedov as Makhachev has confirmed “The Eagle” will return to Makhachev’s corner at UFC 302.

Nurmagomedov, 35, retired from mixed martial arts (MMA) one fight later when he defeated Justin Gaethje after Poirier in October 2020. The all-time great went on to focus on coaching and was seen in the corner of his teammate and protege, Makhachev’s, for several fights after. However, the legend wound up taking a brief break from cornering and coaching but recently got more involved again and will be cage side for the first time since Makhachev won the title against Charles Oliveira (watch highlights) in October 2022.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 302 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 302: “Makhachev vs. Poirier” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.