Craig Jones recently posted about his brand new interview with a mainstream outlet – playboy magazine. In it, Jones talks extensively about BJJ culture and the issues he sees.
Craig Jones doesn’t mince words about longtime rival Gordon Ryan.
“I genuinely do not like him,” Jones told the reporter. “He’s a classic right-wing grifter.”
Gordon Ryan has been one of the most accomplished competitors in the sport, but he has turned much of his online presence toward political commentary, frequently sharing Fox News content and engaging in public debate on political topics. After stepping away from competition due to ongoing intestinal health issues, there was public speculation about a potential future in politics.
Ryan continues to be linked with Tim Kennedy, a figure who has faced significant criticism within the veteran community over allegations related to military service records. Veterans reportedly reviewed Kennedy’s DD214 and raised concerns about claims of combat injury and medals. Following these disputes, Black Rifle Coffee Company ended its association with him, and public criticism followed from former military leadership.
Ryan has also publicly aligned himself with Valentina Gomez, a political commentator known for far-right content who was recently denied entry into the United Kingdom after making inflammatory online remarks. Gomez, who has run unsuccessful political campaigns in Missouri and Texas, had been scheduled to appear at a London event connected to Tommy Robinson. After her travel was revoked, she escalated her public statements and claimed she would still travel to England by boat.
Ryan’s public persona has also faced criticism from within his own audience base. He has made remarks about the NBA being soft, appeared in imagery holding a rif le with a scope backwards, and claimed he was carrying ‘US sports’ on his back despite an overwhelming number of Olympic Gold medals the US has won.
Craig Jones takes a contrasting approach to cultural influence within Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
“We’ve tricked a conservative group of people into labor rights,” Jones says about his Craig Jones Invitational. “You got to trick the red-pill dudes. I try to blend in a bit with that community and change the culture as best I can.”
He acknowledges the limits of satire in a divided environment.
“The problem is if I satirize a misogynistic jiu-jitsu identity too well, there’ll be a certain group, maybe 5 to 10 percent, that’ll be like, ‘Hell yeah, f** women!’ The danger of satire is if you pull it off too well, both sides find it funny.”
Jones has also outlined a broader goal for how he wants the sport to be presented to audiences.
“I want to try to do to jiu-jitsu what Bourdain did to food, where he made the focus of the show more about the individuals in the community rather than the food itself.”
The cultural critique extends beyond politics. Jones has described structural issues within the sport.
“Jiu-jitsu is very macho, very homophobic, very misogynistic,” he says.
Recent allegations involving high profile competitors including André Galvão and Izaak Michell have intensified discussion within the community. Andre Gavlao suspended himself and his leading competitors left the team en masse after a longtime student accused him of misconduct. Michell is a wanted fugitive, currently coasting by in Australia thanks to a limited budget for expediting arrests internationally.
These developments have led to broader conversations about conduct and accountability in the sport.
Jones has also commented on this shift in public awareness.
“Jiu-jitsu has its own #MeToo movement going right now,” Jones says.
Within this broader context, Gordon Ryan‘s responses to related controversies have been widely discussed and interpreted differently across the community. Ryan had shared a public statement about kicking out Michell from his gym in light of the police investigations but he was reluctant to provide any further support by publicizing more reports about his behavior and whereabouts.
Further, Ryan seemed almost uninterested in the major story surrounding Andre Galvao’s ATOS exodus explaining his opinion away by saying Brazilian cultural norms are very different:
“So, for, for, for older men to date a lot younger women is just, like, a totally culturally accepted thing. Like, you know, I know people, you know, in their, like, late 20s who are, like, dating 14-year-olds in Brazil, and it’s just, like, a relatively normal thing as it is in the rest of the world. But it’s just not how we do it in America.”
The contrast between the two reflects a wider divide in the sport, where technical achievement, public influence and cultural messaging increasingly intersect.
