Craig Jones released screenshots of a conversation he had with former teammate Gordon Ryan after CJI and ADCC 2024.
The rivalry between former Danaher Death Squad teammates Craig Jones and Gordon Ryan is now at an all-time high.
Fresh off a busy weekend that saw Jones’ inaugural Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) go head-to-head with ADCC 2024 – which featured a pair of Ryan superfights – things are now getting personal between the two grapplers.
On Monday night, Jones posted on his Instagram story a direct message conversation initiated by Ryan. Those stories have since been removed by Instagram but can be viewed below.
First, Ryan alleges that, for his pair of points victories over Felipe Pena and Yuri Simoes at ADCC 2024, he earned more than the $1 million prizes won by inaugural CJI champions Kade Ruotolo and Nick Rodriguez. If true, Ryan’s pay at ADCC would far exceed the publicly announced prize money for the superfight title and would also be well above what any ADCC athlete was publicly paid, including division and absolute winners.
In response, Jones alludes to an unconfirmed rumor of sexual assault that was, in part, a catalyst for the split of the Danaher Death Squad and insinuates that he could pursue legal action against Ryan’s wife. Jones has subsequently indicated that he plans to share the details of this incident and further explain what led to the 2021 breakup of the Danaher Death Squad.
The inaugural CJI took place on August 16-17 in Las Vegas, and saw both Kade Ruotolo and Nick Rodriguez walk away with the $1 million prizes. The event also featured an inter-gender match between Jones and multiple-time world champion Gabi Garcia, as well as a superfight between former ADCC champion Mackenzie Dern and current pound-for-pound best Ffion Davies.
The 2024 ADCC World Championships took place on August 17-18, also in Las Vegas. Ryan’s superfight victories over Pena and Simoes served as the main event attractions for each day of the event.
