Craig Jones' $10M Prize
Craig Jones announced a record-setting $10 million purse for the next Craig Jones Invitational — a prize likely to pull top pro grapplers and reset pay expectations in no-gi competition. The announcement lays groundwork for a much bigger professional scene, though Jones hasn’t disclosed qualification criteria or seminar details yet (mmamania.com).
CJI’s inaugural event paid two division winners $1,000,000 each—Kade Ruotolo and Nick Rodriguez—at the Thomas & Mack Center on August 16–17, 2024, and the show was streamed free on YouTube. (mmafighting.com) The promotion guaranteed a $10,001 “show” payment to every competitor and reported additional bonus pools (Combat Press tallied $70,000 in bonuses), establishing a high baseline for athlete pay. (combatpress.com) CJI’s 2025 edition shifted to an eight-team, 5-v-5 format held August 30–31, 2025 at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, with the event schedule and team rosters posted on the official CJI site. (cji2.com) That team-format CJI 2 awarded a $1,000,000 prize to the winning squad and ran a separate $100,000 women’s bracket, with media outlets and result pages documenting the B‑Team’s tournament victory and Helena Crevar’s women’s win. (bjjheroes.com) High-profile absences have already been public: Gordon Ryan publicly ruled out competing for CJI 2 and was not part of New Wave’s lineup despite the team’s confirmed entry. (flograppling.com) Coverage of the next CJI installment has adopted fractional numbering—“CJI 2.5” appears in event roundups—raising questions in previews about whether roster depth and format will scale to match the event’s escalating stakes. (bjjdoc.com)
