The first-ever Craig Jones Invitational is in two weeks, and the athletes are grinding in their training camps. $1 million is on the line, and the participants pull out all the stops.
In fact, many CJI 1 athletes are building their own alleys to mimic the fight area. Read more below to learn about the alley and the athletes who have built their own to prepare for the event.
Photo owned by B-Team Jiu Jitsu
What’s an Alley?
If you haven’t been following the news about CJI 1, the fight area will be unique, to say the least. Craig took inspiration from Karate Combat‘s Pit Submission Series and adopted their Pit fight area.
The fight area will be surrounded by a slanted mount, which they call “the alley.” Fighters can use the alley to take their opponents down and set up submissions.
Much like how MMA fighters use the cage to set up takedowns. Or submissions, as we saw Craig Jones hit a flying triangle at the inaugural Pit Submission Series event.
Victor Hugo Builds His Own Alley
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Multi-time BJJ champion Victor Hugo has gone all out in his CJI fight camp. So much so that he built an alley in his gym to train.
Hugo, like everyone else in the tournament, is accustomed to training on standard Jiu-Jitsu mats. It’s going to be interesting to see how Hugo adapts his game to this unique fight area.
Being an elite-level grappler, he probably won’t have any problems adapting.
B-team’s Alley
Not to be outdone by Victor Hugo, the B-Team built their own alley to prepare for the event. In their latest vlog, B-Team shows off the specialized alley/pit and shows some of their training with it.
B-Team members, the Lugo brothers, were kind enough to help their teammates out by building alleys for them. The video features various B-Team grapplers testing out the newly constructed wall.
How Will The Alley Affect The Matches
From the video, the alley/wall is going to add an exciting element to the matches. We’re bound to see some crazy submission attempts and takedowns on the wall at the Craig Jones Invitational.
CJI is just two weeks away, and the BJJ community is pumped about this event! Remember that you can watch CJI 1 for free and live on YouTube on August 16th & 17th at the Thomas Mack Center.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.
