A high-ranking UFC executive has delivered a pointed critique of the Craig Jones Invitational’s handling of its controversial team tournament finale, taking aim at the decision to award New Wave Jiu-Jitsu an additional $1 million prize following their disputed loss to B-Team.
Stephen Tecci, a UFC FP executive, made his feelings clear through a pointed social media post, writing
“I heard the idi0t tax is $1M”
on his social media just one day after an anonymous donor announced plans to award New Wave the substantial sum. The criticism comes as the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community continues to debate the tournament’s outcome and rule interpretation.
The controversy stems from a judges’ decision that saw B-Team declared winners despite New Wave taking three of five individual matches. When scorecards showed a perfect 47-47 tie across all three officials, a tiebreaker rule awarding victory to the team whose athlete won the final bout came into play, giving B-Team the victory based on Nick Rodriguez’s 10-8 round score.
The situation became more complex when discrepancies emerged between the official tournament rules and what appeared in athlete contracts. Gordon Ryan had posted what seemed to be contractual evidence suggesting his New Wave team should have won based on individual bout victories. However, B-Team later released footage from pre-tournament rules meetings showing that multiple sessions were held where crucial modifications were discussed and agreed upon by all parties.
“In follow up rules meetings it became apparent that a 10-8 win shouldn’t have equal value as a 10-9 win. This lead to the decision of a total team score,”
the meeting footage revealed. The rules were further clarified to state that
“if tied on scorecards, the team whose athlete won the final bout wins. If the final bout is a draw, the win goes to the team whose athlete last won a non-draw bout.”
New Wave’s coach John Danaher had questioned the scoring inconsistencies in a measured Instagram response, noting:
“We won 3 out of five matches, but in a rather perplexing final decision the teams were judged as a draw because one of the B team’s victories was judged a 10-8 round, apparently disregarding one of our athletes victories which was almost identically dominant but judged only 10-9.”
When the anonymous donor announced plans to award New Wave the additional prize money, stating
“From my interpretation of the rules, New Wave should have won,”
tournament organizer Craig Jones distanced himself from the decision.
“Investors decision not mine. I don’t agree,”
Jones responded tersely.
Tecci’s criticism reflects a broader industry perspective on how combat sports should handle controversial decisions. The UFC has maintained a consistent approach over its two-decade history of never undermining judges’ authority, but they too have awarded a win bonus at times to competitors who they thought were ‘robbed’.
The executive’s pointed reference to an
“idi0t tax”
suggests he views the donor’s intervention as setting a dangerous precedent that could undermine the authority of judges and encourage losing competitors to pressure organizers through social media campaigns rather than accepting official results.
Of course, this can also be seen through another lens—padding the competitors’ pockets with cash will make them less eager to sign with the notoriously stingy UFC.
