The highly-anticipated Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition — Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) — finally debuts next weekend (Aug. 16-17, 2024) from inside Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada (see full brackets here).
The big talking point of this event is that it’s going head-to-head with the prestigious ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, which is also occurring in “Sin City” just across town.
Many grapplers jumped ship from ADCC to CJI because of the money, including Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Strawweight contender — and jiu-jitsu standout — Mackenzie Dern.
“The biggest motivation was the purse and that they were going to pay the women’s fight such a good amount for a super fight,” Dern told Beasts With Brains podcast. “So, for me, I was going to do ADCC. I already have that title, and then to have my UFC fight scheduled so close, I didn’t think it was fair to pull out of ADCC if anything were to happen.
“I made that clear with Craig: I need to have a backup if I leave,” she continued. “I have a good relationship with ADCC — I’m so supportive. But, it’s at T-Mobile Arena and, like I said, the money is the same as it was 10 years ago. To get this amount of money for a women’s fight, I couldn’t say no.”
One of the biggest reasons jiu-jitsu superstar, Craig Jones, created a tournament was that ADCC only pays $10,000 to the champions, but brings in millions of dollars in revenue. So, Jones decided to pay everyone $10,001 and then set up two, $1 million brackets. Because of that, he poached numerous ADCC champions and other high-level grapplers.
Dern takes on defending ADCC gold medalist, Ffion Davies, in a must-watch super fight.
For much more on the upcoming CJI tournament click here.