Craig Jones is one of the most popular grapplers on the planet but he’s made it no secret that he’s considering the idea of retirement from competitive BJJ. He’s not exactly old by any stretch of the imagination, but he is coming up on 32 and is undoubtedly towards the tail-end of his career. There are some grapplers like Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu who continue competing at the highest level into their 40s but they’re the exception, and they generall only do so in the heaviest weight classes. Jones has historically competed at 88kg at ADCC, other than a trip to the 99kg division for ADCC 2022, and those weight classes are generally dominated by athletes in their 20s.
Craig Jones has mentioned the idea of retirement before, but he was talking about it a lot more than normal in the post-match interview after his win over Felipe Pena at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 4. The rest of his teammates at B-Team have recently decided to discuss Jones’ next move in the sport, and his fellow founder Nicky Ryan had this to say about it:
“I mean, I don’t know… Craig (Jones) throughout the entire camp is like ‘this is the last one I’m doing’, he’s like ‘I’m retiring.’ He’s like ‘I hate doing this sh*t!’ but I’ve also heard Craig say that like 20 times.”
Ethan Crelinsten doesn’t seem to be taking the talk of retiring anywhere near as seriously though:
“He’s been saying this for 5 years, he’s not going anywhere.”
Ryan made the great point about Craig Jones’ career though, he’s reached such a high point that retirement wouldn’t even be a bad thing anymore:
“I don’t know, that’s up to him. He could retire, his brand is huge. He definitely doesn’t need to compete anymore, he could retire and live a good life without competing.”
Haisam Rida might not be one of the founding members of B-Team as he joined them just a few months ago, but he had some insight to share about Jones’ thoughts on competing too:
“Also I heard him say like ‘for the right price’, so I guess it’s gonna depend on the price.”
It’s a culmination of things really, as Jones is in a great position in his career right now first and foremost. Other than major tournaments like ADCC 2024, he doesn’t have that much to gain anymore from competition. He doesn’t really need the additional prestige or recognition that comes from competing at events like EBI or Polaris, so the money he’s being paid would have to reflect that fact. Crelinsten summed that up pretty succinctly:
“So Craig, we could see him again maybe, if the price is right.”
It’s coming to a point now that every time Craig Jones steps on the mats might be the last time that fans get to see him, but hopefully he’ll postpone his retirement at least long enough to have one final crack at glory at ADCC 2024. He’s won a pair of silver medals from the tournament over the years and as much as that has become part of his branding, winning his first ADCC title would still be a fantastic way to go out on top.
Ethan Crelinsten, Nicky Ryan, and Haisam Rida discussed the possibility of Craig Jones making his retirement official in a recent video that was uploaded to the official B-Team Jiu-Jitsu YouTube channel:
