Craig Jones explains why he turned down UFC BJJ offer
Craig Jones detailed why he turned down an offer to coach on the new UFC BJJ reality show.
Craig Jones has made it no small secret that he’s not a fan of how the UFC and UFC BJJ do business. With CJI 2 rapidly approaching, the Australian has been critical of the newly formed UFC BJJ for imposing exclusive contracts on its athletes, or, at the very least, preventing them from competing at CJI 2 this August.
However, on a recent episode of “On Borrowed Time,” Jones revealed that he was close to signing on to be a coach on the UFC BJJ: Road to the Title reality show. As he explained, he believes that the organization’s initial plan was to have multiple-time ADCC champion Gordon Ryan coach against decorated light-featherweight standout Mikey Musumeci. When Ryan declined, Jones said that the UFC offered him a coaching position opposite Musumeci, setting the stage for what would have been an intriguing clash on the show’s finale.
Ultimately, Jones declined the offer for a variety of reasons, and UFC BJJ decided to tap no-gi newcomer Rerisson Gabriel as Musumeci’s opposing coach. Musumeci submitted Gabriel at the inaugural UFC BJJ event.
Below, Jones details his reasons for turning down the chance to coach on UFC BJJ: Road to the Title.
“As far as I know, pure speculation here, speculation, that it was going to be Gordon and Mikey, but Gordon is pursuing politics and doesn’t want to compete anymore. Also, like, those health problems could be legitimate, who knows? He’s also opening Kingsway, another powerhouse gym in Austin. He’s busy, and he didn’t want to compete against Mikey Musumeci. Is he scared of Mikey? No. Obviously Gordon’s probably the best ever. Mikey’s incredibly talented. There’s also a massive size discrepancy there.
“So the second choice was, they came to call me to jump on board. They offered a decent amount of money to do it, but in terms of the commitment, obviously, it was a week of filming, and then I’d have to cut my plans to help my buddy in Ukraine. So there were a few factors going into why I wouldn’t do it.
“But it would also be quite a restrictive contract, and I love the power of being a free agent. Not everyone has that power where they can market themselves; they have to rely on the organization to market them. Honestly, that’s kind of why we started the B-Team YouTube channel to begin with. To market ourselves without reliance on organizations.
“So yeah, he had had conversations, there was nothing in writing, nothing official, but for a long period of time, their athletes were able to do CJI. But when I did formally decline the offer, I asked for too much money, apparently, they went with Rerisson Gabriel. And props to him…
“Afterwards, they really did block their athletes from doing our event… After I formally declined the offer, when they were discussing with athletes, which they left really to the last minute, some of the athletes on the show knew for three months, some of them knew for three or four days. Any athlete that they spoke with that said they were participating in CJI, they weren’t put on the show, basically had to make a choice… If you were to participate in the show, you could not do CJI.”
CJI 2 takes place on August 30-31, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. View an updated roster of every athlete competing at the event here.
