Craig Jones has just announced that he will apparently be a coach opposite Gordon Ryan on the very first season of The Ultimate Grappler. The booking would be a huge moment for the sport, as the rivalry between these two men is quite possibly the biggest storyline in Jiu-Jitsu history. It spans across several years and involves them moving from opponents to teammates and then finally on to bitter rivals. Jones and Ryan even moved to Puerto Rico at one point in time and have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours on the mat together while they were training partners.
Since they parted ways, the relationship has only deteriorated further and it was only a couple of months ago that they agreed to ‘fight on sight’. The two men coaching teams of other grapplers against one another would undoubtedly produce some memorable moments and will likely attract a ton of attention to the sport. The idea of a grappling reality show funded by the UFC was first floated by Dana White and although smaller promotions have attempted it before, something with their backing was always going to be huge. The Ultimate Fighter essentially helped the UFC break through into the mainstream consciousness and a grappling version could have a similar effect.
The promotion have reportedly been working on this for around a year at this point so it was always going to be interesting to see what they came up with, but not many people would have predicted this. The last time any news was leaked, it looked like the UFC was planning on making Ryan coach against Mikey Musumeci. That would have been pretty entertaining as it stands, but being able to bring in one of the most bitter and public feuds in Jiu-Jitsu history is a fantastic pivot. That will not only bring in a lot more viewers to begin with, but a potential match between the coaches would be massive.
Craig Jones is of course known for making jokes and poking fun at other competitors, particularly Gordon Ryan, so it’s hard to know how serious he is about coaching against him in The Ultimate Grappler. We already know that Ryan was supposed to coach on the show and Jones has actually worked as a grappling coach on The Ultimate Fighter before. Both men have strong links with the UFC in different ways so it’s not crazy to think that the promotion might have gotten it done. After all; if anyone has the financial and promotional firepower to pull something like this off, it’s the UFC.
Craig Jones announced the news that he will be coaching opposite Gordon Ryan on The Ultimate Grappler in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
