On Demetrious Johnson’s podcast, Craig Jones openly questioned whether the promotion truly understands what it takes to succeed in this highly specialized sport.
“For them to suddenly offer me a coaching role against Mikey, for what I thought, the money was terrible,”
Jones revealed, describing his experience with UFC BJJ’s recruitment efforts. He painted a picture of an organization that treats grappling as an afterthought.
“It was so unorganized and just like an afterthought to them and conversations I’d had with them previous to that offer.”
Perhaps most damning was his assessment of UFC’s internal culture:
“There’s people there that dislike grappling and I’m like, I really don’t think their heart’s in it. If we look at Dana, is Dana going to be more invested in boxing or grappling?”
Jones’ criticism comes against the backdrop of UFC BJJ’s shaky start. Their reality series meant to showcase high-level grappling became a case study in poor planning after failing to secure marquee names like Jones and Gordon Ryan. Instead the promotion scrambled to fill coaching spots which led to major mismatches. Competitor Gianni Grippo summed it up:
“We didn’t really have the ability to be guided by anyone… just because there was the language barrier which made it super difficult.”
Watching rival coach Mikey Musumeci lead with clarity only underscored the imbalance.
The talent selection has also raised eyebrows. Jones cited the example of David Garmo who competed for the UFC BJJ 205-pound belt despite not being ranked among the sport’s top 10 or even top 15.
“Is that hurting the UFC’s brand to say that we’re the premier martial arts organization in the world, but you don’t have the best Jiu Jitsu athletes?”
he asked.
Jones also argued the UFC entered grappling far too late.
“They should have made their run at this way long ago. Now ONE’s got athletes, Flo’s got athletes and they’re trying to like pick up the scraps,”
he told Mighty Mouse. With the top names already committed elsewhere UFC is left competing for leftovers rather than setting the standard.
What particularly rankled Jones was UFC’s attempt to sell “exposure” instead of compensation.
“They’re like, the UFC brand—we’re going to flash you on screen at a UFC broadcast, you’re going to gain so much from us. If you’re talking about exposure, that doesn’t sound like you’re talking about paying me very much money.”
Beyond finances Jones warned that UFC’s corporate-first approach could harm the sport itself.
“I think grappling is going to take someone that really has to love the sport and care about the athletes and also understand the consequences of what could happen if a big entity like that entered the world of grappling. They could potentially end it.”
His fear is that if profits don’t come quickly enough UFC will treat grappling like a failed experiment.
“I kind of feel like if they don’t start getting returns very fast, people are going to be pushed out, like spoken to negatively,”
Jones predicted casting doubt on whether the patience required to grow grappling aligns with UFC’s business model.
