In a recent appearance on the Mike Perry podcast, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend Craig Jones shared some amusing thoughts on the Russian martial art of Sambo. Known for his irreverent humor, Jones quipped that “Sambo’s just two guys that trained Judo that thought it’d be cool to train without their pants.”
The comment came during a wide-ranging discussion that touched on Jones’ experiences in Ukraine, his thoughts on the BJJ community, and his recent Craig Jones Invitational event. Jones, who has trained with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, offered insights into the role of grappling in MMA.
“Jiu-Jitsu coach is a pretty small aspect of an MMA corner,” Jones noted. “Most of the time you probably don’t even need a Jiu-Jitsu coach for MMA fight.” He explained that his contributions to Volkanovski’s training camps often focused on specific submission defense rather than broader grappling strategy.
Jones also touched on the challenges of marketing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to a mainstream audience. “Just trying to make Jiu-Jitsu somewhat appealing to the masses is so difficult,” he admitted. Despite this, Jones’ Invitational event managed to raise $500,000 for cancer research.
Known for pushing boundaries with his humor, Jones playfully suggested that “being gay would be the best base for Jiu-Jitsu.” He continued to riff on the sport’s quirks, joking about the prevalence of “autism and steroids” among practitioners.
This is far from the first time that Jones has dissed Sambo. Jones humorously downplayed Sambo, suggesting Volkanovski’s victory would disprove its effectiveness in modern MMA ahead of the rematch.
“A win over Islam Makhachev makes him a man that disproved Sambo. That’ll trump his legacy in the sport, because we’ve wasted another martial art. Most martial arts were killed in 1993, somehow Sambo has limped and lingered on to 2023. So Volkanovski kills Sambo, and we get to stop hearing about this Russian dancer.”
“When I first heard it I thought they were talking about the Brazilian dance of Samba. And honestly, that is a more frightening prospect, Islam dancing Brazilian Samba.”
As per calfkicker:
“He’s just good at holding people down like he submits people, but I don’t think he has good submissions, you know what I mean? ”
“Like it’s a wrestling culture and they obviously have some submissions in Sambo and stuff. But Sambo is pretty bad as a grappling art. I, you know, like a lot of the sambo guys in the tournaments, they want heel hooks bans, you know so it’s not a complete grappling on the ground.”
“But again, what he does well is his ability to hold people down from half guard and close guard especially. And then as they make bad decisions, he’s able to pounce on submissions.”
Sadly Volkanovski succumbed to a kick KO instead.
While delivered with his trademark wit, Jones’ comments offer a unique insider’s perspective on the world of competitive grappling and its place within the broader landscape of combat sports.
