The inaugural Craig Jones Invitational kicked went down over the weekend to a raucous crowd. There was a lot of hype going into CJI 1 and the expectations were high.
Check out the full highlights of day one and day two of the Craig Jones Invitational below!
CJI Day 1 Highlights
We saw some insane action on day one of the Craig Jones Invitational. Here’s some of the biggest moments of the first day of action at CJI 1.
Victor Hugo Goes Down
In the hands down upset of the night, Australian underdog Lucas Kenard made a name for himself. He took out multi-time world champion and +80 kg division favorite Victor Hugo.
During the first minute of the first round, Kenard aggressively attacked Hugo’s legs and hit an inside heel hook. The crowd was completely stunned when one of the world’s top grapplers went down in the first round.
Kenard definitely made a name for himself and could be the potential winner of the $50k submission bonus.
Levi Jones-Leary Showed Out
Levi Jones-Leary put on quite a show on his first day of the tournament. He started off by taking out the tough Roberto Jimenez in the first round via heel hook.
The young Australian then had an absolute war with Tye Ruotolo. Both young grappling stars were aggressive with their attacks that got the crowd into the match.
At the end of regulation, the judges awarded Jones-Leary with the decision win. Marking his spot in the day 2 semi-finals.
Nicky Rods & Fellipe Andrew Dominate
In the +80 kg division, Nicky Rods and Fellipe Andrew were clearly the two strongest competitors after day one. Andrew showed us some crazy transitions, while Nick Rodriguez is hunting submissions.
CJI Day One Results
+80 kg Division Day One ResultsÂ
Opening Round
Nicky Rods Submits Max Gemenis(RNC)
Owen Livesey Decisions Mahamed Aly
Adam Bradley Decisions Kyle Boehm
Pat Downey Decisions Luke Rockhold
Lucas Kanard Submits Victor Hugo(Inside Heel Hook)
Inacio Santos Decisions Pedro Alex
Fellipe Andrew Decisions Daniel Kerkvliet
Joao Gabriel Rocha Decisions William Tackett
Quarter Finals
Nicky Rods Submits Owen Livesey(RNC)
Adam Bradley Decisions Pat Downey
Inacio Santos Decisions Lucas Kanard
Fellipe Andrew Decisions Joao Gabriel Rocha
-80 kg Division Day One Results
Opening Round
Tye Ruotolo Submits Jason Nolf(Kneebar)
Levi Jones-Leary Submits Roberto Jimenez(Heel Hook)
Lucas Barbosa Decisions Kenta Iwamoto
Jozef Chen Decisions Andy Varela
Kade Ruotolo Submits Matheus Diniz(Straight Ankle Lock)
Tommy Langaker Decisions Renato Canuto
Andrew Tackett Decisions Nicky Ryan
Eoghan O’Flannagan Submits Magid Hage(Inside Heel Hook)
Quarter Finals
Levi Jones-Leary Decisions Tye Ruotolo
Lucas Barbosa Submits Jozef Chen(Calf Slicer)
Kade Ruotolo Decisions Tommy Langaker
Andrew Tackett Decisions Eoghan O’Flannagan
CJI 1 Day Two HighlightsÂ
Day two of CJI 1 had some incredible action and we saw millionaire champions crowned. Read below to see how it all went down!
Mackenzie Dern vs. Ffion Davies
Ffion Davies showed why she’s the top female grappler in the sport. She dominated the former world champ and current UFC fighter Mackenzie Dern throughout their match. In the second round, Davies hit a nice reverse triangle/armbar variation to get the tap.
Ffion Davis wins by reverse triangle/armbar
Gabi Garcia vs. Craig Jones
This is the fight everyone came to see. If Gabi won, she’d get a million and if Craig won, Gabi would have to do an OnlyFans collab.
The match was a bit of fun with Renato Laranja giving live commentary. Jones won by RNC, but he gave Garcia her flowers as one of the greatest grapplers ever.Â
Everything was all in good fun and the crowd was into the match.
Craig Jones wins by RNC
CJI Day 2 Highlights
Millionaires were crowned and we were treated to some unbelievable high-level grappling. Check out the highlights of CJI 1 day 2 below.
Nicky Rods Dominates
Photo owned by CJI Official
Throughout the 80+ kg tournament, Nick Rodriguez looked absolutely unstoppable. His wrestling was on point and he finished all four of his matches.
Rods took Fellipe Andrew down and was able to control him like few ever had before. He locked in the RNC and the crowd went better.
In Nick’s post fight interview, he called out Gordon Ryan to see who’s the best in the world. This is the next match the grappling world needs to see.
Kade Ruotolo Becomes the -80 kg Champ
Photo owned by CJI Official
Kade Ruotolo and Levi Jones-Leary looked incredible going into the finals. The two young went to war for five rounds.
Rutolo had numerous near submissions including a super deep triangle. Somehow, Jones-Leary survived and the fight went to a decision.
Kade Ruotolo wins the inaugural CJI -80 kg championship by decision.
CJI 1 Day Two Results
+80 kg Results
Semifinals
Nicky Rodriguez Submits Adam Bradley(RNC)
Fellipe Andrew Submits Inacio Santos(Inside Heel Hook)
Finals
Nick Rodriguez Submits Fellipe Andrew(RNC)
-80 kg Results
Semifinals
Levi Jones-Leary Decisions Lucas Barbosa
Kade Ruotolo Decisions Andrew Tackett
Finals
Kade Ruotolo Decisions Levi Jones-Leary
Thoughts on the Craig Jones Invitational
The hype as real as the Craig Jones Invitational brought a big crowd that was into the action for both days. Over two million viewers tuned in for the 2-day tournament and the response has been really positive.
CJI had an interesting presentation and the pit mat kept the action going. It was also great to see open scoring, so the athletes and fans know exactly what the score was.
Craig Jones and his crew succeeded in what they set out to do. They got top grapplers, got millions of viewers, and made some money for charity.
We hope CJI got the attention it needed to be able to do another and keep the sport growing.
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.
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