Craig Jones "Second Best Grappler"

Craig Benjamin Jones was born on July 17, 1991, in Adelaide, South Australia, and began training jiu-jitsu in 2006 at his cousin Matt Jones's academy. As a purple belt he moved to Melbourne to train at Maromba Academy and, later, Absolute MMA under Lachlan Giles, who would remain his primary instructor for the rest of his competitive career. Giles promoted Jones to black belt in 2016. Even before reaching black belt, Jones had already made history: as a purple belt in 2015 he won gold at the IBJJF No-Gi World Championship, becoming the first Australian male to win an IBJJF world title, a breakthrough that put Australian jiu-jitsu on the map at the sport's highest level.

Jones's ADCC career began in 2015 and became the defining thread of his competitive story. He returned in 2017 with a run that turned heads across the sport, submitting five-time IBJJF World Champion Leandro Lo, finishing Murilo Santana with a flying triangle, and submitting UFC veteran Chael Sonnen in the absolute bracket. He reached the ADCC final at -88kg in 2019 and again at -99kg in 2022, taking silver both times — a pair of near-misses that became central to his public persona rather than something he tried to hide. Jones leaned into the result, branding himself the self-deprecating 'Second Best Grappler,' a nickname that stuck precisely because it undersold how dominant a competitor he actually was.

Around 2017, Jones relocated to New York to train with John Danaher's famed 'Danaher Death Squad,' a group that also included Gordon Ryan and other athletes who would go on to define no-gi grappling's professional era. When the group dispersed in mid-2021, Jones relocated to Austin, Texas, and co-founded B Team Jiu-Jitsu with Nicky Ryan, Nicky Rodriguez, and Ethan Crelinsten, building it into one of the sport's most visible and commercially successful teams over the following several years.

Jones also became one of grappling's most prolific submission-only competitors outside the IBJJF and ADCC ecosystem, winning the Polaris middleweight title three times (2018, 2019, 2021) and its light-heavyweight title once (2018), taking the Combat Jiu-Jitsu featherweight world title in 2021 by submitting UFC veteran Donald Cerrone, and headlining numerous superfights against opponents ranging from Felipe Pena to Rafael Lovato Jr. His leg-lock game — heel hooks, toeholds, and entries refined under Danaher's system — became his signature weapon, though he was equally comfortable finishing with rear-naked chokes and triangles once a match reached scramble range.

Frustrated with what he described as inadequate athlete pay at ADCC, Jones used his platform to launch the Craig Jones Invitational in August 2024, a rival grappling event he counter-programmed directly against that year's ADCC broadcast, backed by several million dollars in funding and a headline-grabbing prize structure. The event, and its 2025 sequel featuring a team-format tournament won by B Team, cemented Jones as much as a promoter and disruptor as a competitor. In 2025 he announced his retirement from active competition, closing out his career with a superfight victory over longtime rival Chael Sonnen and stepping back from B Team leadership — leaving behind a legacy built as much on reshaping the sport's business model as on his own considerable results on the mat.

Innovative no-gi leg-lock specialist known for heel hooks, toeholds, and a media-driven, disruptive approach to the sport's business