The 2024 Craig Jones Invitational came to a stunning conclusion last night: Not only did two of the sport’s most talented stars become millionaires, but the event itself made history as one of the most watched grappling tournaments the world has ever seen.
While the intersex grappling match between Craig Jones and Gabi Garcia may have been controversial beforehand, there is no doubt that the 2024 Invitational was a resounding success for both the sport and its biggest superstars.
Results of the Craig Jones Invitational: Two million dollars and a place in the history books
The 2024 Craigh Jones Invitational culminated last night with four fantastic matches: two superfights and two tournament finals – the last of which each featured a top prize of $1 million in cash.
In the final of the over 80 kg class, Nicky Rod Fellipe defeated Andrew by rear-naked choke in the first round. This was his fourth consecutive RNC submission victory in the tournament. Kade Ruotolo claimed the UD victory over Levi Jones-Leary in the under 80 kg class.
In the first of two superfights, Ffion Davies secured a second-round armbar submission victory over UFC fighter Mackenzie Dern; Craig Jones also secured a second-round victory over Gabi Garcia in a fight that was rightly dubbed the “most watched event in grappling history.”
Craig Jones celebrates the success of the 2024 Invitational
Speaking to reporters after the event, Craig Jones celebrated not only the submission victory against the legendary Gabi Garcia, but also the overall success of the 2024 Invitational as a historic event for combat sports.
“It feels good. Gabi is obviously a legend because of what she has done here. I mean, this is really just for the athletes. The people who currently run the ADCC don’t really treat the athletes well and Gabi’s participation in it has robbed her of her Hall of Fame, even though she has already won four world titles.
“But more than that, it was about attracting the mainstream audience. I’m glad we were able to raise the funds to pay Nicky Rod a million dollars… This event was crazy, a million dollars got everyone pumped up and I couldn’t ask for better energy than that.”
While Jones was certainly expected to take the win with his patented leg hold, the Australian almost managed a twister before finally finding the RNC in the second round.
Fortunately, the submission specialist seemed open to the idea of running the program again at some point in the future, especially given the positive response from the global grappling community compared to the ADCC program.
“I didn’t make it work, (her) big braids got in the way, but I would do it again, I would do it again… I’ve had death threats from the ADCC organizers, which is crazy, just ridiculous… I don’t even think this event is really worth talking about, they’re fighting for some breadcrumbs over there.”
Jones reiterated that the final bouts at the 2024 Invitational were likely the most watched grappling bouts in the history of the sport, noting that the event overall couldn’t have gone much better from a promotional perspective.
“This will be the most watched game in the history of sports… I don’t think it could have gone better. The games were exciting and the crowds were enthusiastic.”
“And we were up against an event that’s been selling tickets for two years, and yet tonight the tickets sold out really well… I think this will be the most attended grappling event ever.”
Jones is not content to rest on his laurels, however. He wants the next Invitational to have a dedicated women’s tournament and hopes the attention his match against Garcia and Dern’s clash with Davies have generated will lead to more sponsors choosing women.
“It’s hard to get funding (and) I didn’t want to start a women’s division just to pay them less, so I thought, ‘Let’s put on the best women’s fight we can ever put on’ to show how exciting the women are and then I can use that to get sponsors to give them a real million dollar division (next time).”
As a reminder, the entire event can be viewed for free on YouTube. The grappling match between Garcia and Jones can be found at approximately 2 hours and 57 minutes into the stream.
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