The inaugural Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) was widely regarded as a huge success from a promotional standpoint, but the organization has also managed to raise over $500,000 for Tap Cancer Out as well. TCO is one of the biggest BJJ charities around, and it has been funding life-saving cancer research since it first began operating in 2012. They were the premier charity partner for the debut of CJI and through the Fair Fight Foundation, the two organizations worked together to deliver this astounding amount. CJI operated as a non-profit, so as soon as the promotion made back its initial outlay everything above that was donated to charity.
Certain sources had already claimed that CJI was a financial success, but not many people would have predicted that it would be to this extent. Although TCO has been running for around 12 years now, this half a million dollar donation still stands out as a gigantic increase in funding for them. Over that time, they have managed to raise over $6.25 million in donations and have been growing each and every year. This half a million dollar lump sum that was raised in one weekend would normally take months for TCO to raise through their regular methods, so the Craig Jones Invitational has had an incredible impact on both the competitive and the charitable side of the sport at the same time.
Although Craig Jones was the driving force behind CJI, he wasn’t the only person leading the way by raising money for Tap Cancer Out. The promotion managed to raise a total of $166,666.67 just through their own means, and Kasai CEO Rich Byrne matched that donation himself. Jones also had the help of a second, anonymous donor who matched the amount as well and brought the total figure to the $500,000 mark in total. Although the majority of the BJJ community will focus on the incredible grappling on display at CJI, it’s also worth remembering the huge amount of good they’ve been able to do in the process.
Tap Cancer Out announced the news that the inaugural CJI had raised over $500,000 for them in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
