Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu veteran Garry Tonon has shared his candid thoughts on the current state of professional grappling, offering pointed criticism of Craig Jones‘ promotional approach while advocating for industry-wide collaboration over destructive competition.
The decorated submission specialist expressed reservations about the motivations behind the Craig Jones Invitational, suggesting the promotion’s initial strategy prioritized dismantling established organizations rather than genuine sport development.
“It definitely rubbed me the wrong way when CJI initially, you know, started doing whatever they were doing because I felt as though it was a lot less about creating a new organization and a lot more about trying to burn an organization that had already existed,”
Tonon explained in new podcast.
His concerns stem from what he perceives as an attack on ADCC, an organization he credits with sustaining professional grappling during its formative years. Tonon painted a picture of the sport’s humble financial beginnings where prize money was virtually nonexistent.
“In order to win $1,000 in jiu-jitsu, first of all, there was very few opportunities to do it. But in order to do it, I mean, you had to win like an absolute division in like a Grappler’s Quest or something like that and compete against a bunch of the best guys, you know, in at least a 16-man bracket,”
he recalled.
According to Tonon, ADCC served as a crucial lifeline during these lean times.
“ADCC has basically been a charity organization for grappling for over a decade maybe possibly two decades. Because there was no money to be made in the sport and they were giving out money, you know, substantially larger prizes than any.”
While acknowledging that ADCC could potentially improve its compensation structure, Tonon defended the organization’s historical contributions to the grappling community.
“They’ve been a pretty big mainstay in the community that has been giving back to that community for, you know, in terms of at least monetarily and prestige-wise for a very long time.”
The timing of CJI’s inaugural event particularly frustrated Tonon, as it directly conflicted with ADCC‘s schedule.
“It’s like CJI didn’t need to be on like the same weekend as ADCC, you know, like that was crazy. There’s just no reason for that,”
he stated.
This scheduling decision exemplified what Tonon sees as an unnecessarily adversarial approach that ultimately hurts athletes and fans alike.
“You basically made it so that grapplers couldn’t get both opportunities. They were going to only be able to participate in one and fans were probably going to have a tough time.”
Regarding athlete exclusivity, Tonon expressed skepticism about organizations locking competitors into restrictive contracts. He believes the current grappling landscape cannot financially support the exclusive model that works in major MMA promotions.
“I’ve never been huge on like one organization just signing people’s lives away and not having them be able to; I feel like it prevents, you know, all the matches that people want to see and stuff like that,”
Tonon said.
He used ONE Championship‘s relationship with the Ruotolo brothers as an example of exclusivity that works for select athletes but questioned its broader applicability.
“It would be really difficult for ONE, logistically speaking, to do that with for example, every; to do that with like 10 of the best athletes or let’s not not even say 10 because really you would need like a top 15, right?”
Instead of viewing the grappling promotional landscape as a zero-sum competition, Tonon advocates for coexistence and mutual growth. He believes there’s sufficient room for multiple organizations to thrive by focusing on their unique offerings rather than undermining competitors.
“I think that there’s so much room for growth in this industry and in this sport that like there really is a place for a lot of these organizations. Especially when they’re all doing like new and unique things with like different rule sets and different types of promotions,”
he emphasized.
Tonon drew parallels to earlier experiences in the sport, recalling how competing promotions would inexplicably schedule events on the same weekends, creating unnecessary conflicts that hurt both organizations financially.
“Both of these things; or you’d have like, maybe it wouldn’t necessarily be a major IBJJF. Maybe it’d be like a Grappler’s Quest or a NAGA and like they would be in like this, like a similar area on the same weekend. And it’s like, well, guys, like could have just f***ing staggered this s**t and like probably both companies would have made money.”
While maintaining that he doesn’t closely follow daily developments in grappling politics, Tonon acknowledged Jones‘ skill at generating attention and controversy. However, he questioned whether such tactics truly serve the sport’s best interests.
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s done for attention and drama and clicks and things like that. He’s very good at that, at doing that sort of thing, and I think that’s a lot of; maybe the motivation behind it but I can only really speculate,”
Tonon noted.
