Craig Jones really isn’t slowing down, as he’s just confirmed that CJI 3 will take place on an unspecified date in 2026. The promotion is still in its infancy of course and with only one completed event under their belt, most people would expect them to want to focus on the next event before planning beyond that. Jones is not exactly known for being cautious or taking his time and really, the promotion’s whole legacy is built off of him running full steam ahead with an idea in just a few short months to create the biggest professional grappling event that the world has ever seen.
The inaugural Craig Jones Invitational in 2024 was an incredible event that saw two men win stacked divisions and leave with a million dollars in prize money each. It was an electric weekend and it was truly groundbreaking, so it came as a surprise to everyone when Jones announced that he was changing the entire format for their second event. Jones ditched the individual 16-man tournament brackets and instead decided to create a team grappling tournament featuring 8 teams of 5 competitors. It was a decision that was applauded and criticised in equal measure by fans of the sport, but we are still yet to see how it plays out.
Not only has it not taken place yet, but the full lineup of teams and competitors for CJI 2 is still being announced. While Jones is hard at work putting things together for this year’s edition, it appears as though he’s had one eye on the future as well. Not only has he revealed that CJI 3 will take place in 2026 but it will also pivot back to the original format of individual tournament brackets as well. He stopped short of announcing the specific divisions though, so there’s a possibility that they choose different weight classes this time around or even add in more female competitors.
Craig Jones announced the news that CJI 3 was going to return to the individual format in 2026 in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
