Craig Jones recently decided to open up about his upcoming match against Rafael Lovato Jr and explained why he wanted to face him specifically. It’s an interesting matchup for a number of different reasons, particularly because both men are among the best in the world at their weight class. They will be facing off in the main event of UFC Fight Pass Invitational 6 on March 3rd, 2024 and although there will undoubtedly be a ton of interesting matches at the event, this one in particular is drawing a lot of attention. Jones revealed that this isn’t the first time that he’s tried to face Lovato in fact:
“I will say it’s a match I’ve tried to book. Promoters have said, ‘Hey who do you want to face?’ I want to face Lovato. And that’s not because I see a strategic weakness in Lovato. If anything, it’s because I checked his age and he’s a little older. You might see that as vulnerability, but my counterargument would be I think we both probably have the same aged heart given the damage and mileage mine has on it. My lifestyle is a great equalizer, it’s the reason we look the same age, me and Lovato. But he is 40 and I’m 32, I think.”
Although Jones started out with the trademark sense of humor that earned him ‘BJJ Personality of the Year’ at the JitsMagazine BJJ Awards 2023, he eventually did take it a little more seriously. Craig Jones explained that Rafael Lovato Jr is actually someone he looked up to during the earliest stages of his career:
“The reason I want this match is because there’s key names that are pivotal when you’re coming up. Sometimes if you ask a grappler who has influenced you the most, it’s gonna be based on who was famous and who was doing well at a lower belt for these guys.”
This match could have happened before, as both men entered the under 99kg division of ADCC 2022 and were placed on opposite sides of the bracket. They didn’t finish that far from one another though and they actually came just one match away from facing one another. They both made it all the way to the semi-final and Craig Jones beat Nicholas Meregali to book his place in the final, but unfortunately Rafael Lovato Jr couldn’t make it past the division’s eventual champion Kaynan Duarte. As Jones explains, the opportunities to face legends of the sport really don’t come around that often:
“Who was a big-name competitor when you were a purple belt? When I was a purple belt, guys like Lovato were, they were the big names of my generation. So for me, when I was a purple belt aspiring professional competitor, those are the names that I was like, ‘Holy f*** it would be sick to have a match against these guys, beat these guys.’ And now, as I get older in the grappling world, these guys are retiring so there’s not too many opportunities for me to face these gentlemen. But yeah, shout out to UFC Fight Pass for getting this booked.”
The full episode of El Segundo Podcast where Craig Jones explained why he wanted the match with Rafael Lovato Jr was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu:
