In a recent Instagram post, Craig Jones stirred the pot by claiming that ADCC paid Jon Jones $50,000 just to show up at the event. The Australian grappling star didn’t hold back, sharing a picture of Jon Jones alongside Gordon Ryan with the caption, “The c*nt literally got paid 50 racks to show up and watch you mate you don’t have any f*cking friends. ADCC, that’s pathetic you would pay Jon Jones to watch you compete.”
If ADCC did pay Jones the 50k it’s still probably not the worst investment they made. The promotion secured Bruce Buffer’s brother Michael whose rates go from $25,000 (the friends rate) to $100,000 for a day of work just to introduce the Gordon Ryan vs Yuri Simoes grappling match.
Many BJJ fans pointed out that Jon Jones inaccurately hyped Gordon Ryan’s match saying he was there to watch him in the ‘finals’ which the Yuri Simoes superfight certainly wasn’t.
Jones’ claim comes amidst increasing competition between ADCC and the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI). The CJI has been making waves in the grappling community, offering a 100 times bigger purse to ADCC, and with a significantly larger portion of production funds—around 70%—going directly to the competitors. Additionally, CJI has garnered impressive online engagement, with two streams reaching 1.9 million and 1 million views, respectively. Their peak live viewership hit 157,000 during a much-anticipated match between Craig Jones and Gabi Garcia.
In contrast, ADCC’s attempt to livestream the over 99kg division on the first day of their event fell flat. The stream managed a peak of just 15,000 live viewers, and although the replay has since reached 225,000 views, there’s been speculation, fueled by tools like VidIQ, that the engagement stats may not be entirely organic.
Jon Jones does have a history of training with Gordon Ryan, a partnership that dates back to October 2023. The two joined forces as part of Jon Jones’ preparation for his MMA return—a comeback that was delayed when Jones suffered a bicep injury, sidelining him for nine months. However, their training partnership seems to have extended beyond that, with Jon Jones and Ryan sharing several posts on social media showcasing their sessions together.
The timing of Jon Jones’ ADCC appearance is intriguing, especially as it coincides with Jon hinting at his retirement from MMA. Jones also caught several strays from Craig Jones in lead up to both events. Notably Craig refrenced Jones domestic incident in a skit featuring Master Ken in which he noted that Albuquerque seems to be the best location to prep to fight a woman.
