In a harrowing account, Adam Jones, brother of jiu-jitsu star Craig Jones, has shared the story behind his infamous leg break that occurred at the 2017 Pan Pacific IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Tournament.
The injury, which has made Jones a reluctant internet celebrity every October when photos of the incident resurface online, happened during a super heavyweight purple belt match against a judo black belt from Singapore.
“I broke two bones,” Jones explained in his video. “The tib and the fib, the tips snapped clean off, and I dislocated my ankle.”
The incident occurred when Jones, attempting to pull guard for the third time in the match, had his opponent jump over his legs. “When someone’s a super heavyweight, they don’t jump, they fall,” Jones recounted. The opponent landed on Jones’ shin and as he slid down, landed on his ankle, causing the dislocation and fractures.
What followed was a 90-minute ordeal on the mats waiting for an ambulance while his coach Lachlan Giles held his injured leg. Jones was critical of the IBJJF’s first aid response, noting that their first aid official only offered sports tape for his severely broken leg.
“Craig took a photo of it and sent it to Kit Dale. Now Kit Dale stole all my clout. He posted that, never tagged me,” Jones said with a touch of humor about the viral photo that continues to resurface years later.
After receiving emergency care at the hospital just over a kilometer away—”the most expensive Uber I’ve ever had, that was like $1,200 to go a kilometer”—Jones underwent surgery to have plates and screws inserted in his ankle, which remain there to this day.
Despite the severity of the injury, Jones was back on the mats four months later, and eight months and three weeks after the break, he competed again in a heavyweight division superfight.
“To be able to know that I came back from an injury like that was very important to me,” Jones said, noting that the experience has given him perspective that he can share with his daughter. “When the inevitable happens and my daughter hurts herself, I’ll be able to say to her, ‘Hey, this is what your dad did rolling around on the ground pulling guard, and he came back.'”
Jones concluded his story with a lighthearted jab at Sebastian Attard, who recently broke his leg in training: “You only broke one bone, okay? I broke two.”
The injury may have been devastating, but it hasn’t diminished Jones’ passion for the sport or his sense of humor about the incident that made him infamous in jiu-jitsu circles.
