Craig Jones has just taken aim at the IBJJF World Championship and although he’s always lighthearted in his delivery, there’s a lot of harsh truths behind the jokes he’s making. He started out leaning much more on the comedy side of things though, poking fun at some of the competitors who travel to compete at the event rather than the event itself:
“Each and every year, around June, there is an annual pilgrimage of Brazilian tourist visas that make their way all the way to Southern California. Of course, they make this pilgrimage each and every year to find a suitable Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt female mate for the season until they return home to Brazil to see their wives and families.”
It might not be surprising to hear that Jones has some issues with the IBJJF and the way they run their world championship events, particularly seeing as he is exclusively a no gi competitor. His criticisms have nothing to do with his choice of ruleset though, and he actually took aim at the way that the IBJJF determine who gets to compete at their world championship:
“You need to qualify to enter the IBJJF gi world championship, so you need to enter other IBJJF events to qualify, to get enough points on the board to be able to compete in this gi world championships in California. However, 99% of the events are in the United States or Brazil which makes it almost impossible for Ozzies (Australians), Kiwis (New Zealanders), Europeans to be able to compete in the gi world championships.”
While Craig Jones is exaggerating about how many IBJJF events are outside the US and Brazil, he’s not wrong that there is much more opportunity for competitors to qualify for the world championship in these countries. He also pointed out the nationality of the people actually working for the IBJJF as well:
“Every single judge, referee, and female mat-marshall with a big *ss is a directly from Brazil, and I would argue that each time a gringo (non-Brazilian) goes out to compete, it’s essentially a 4 vs 1 match. Obviously our opponent, the judge, the referee, and the mat-marshall; they’re all against us here and it makes it very difficult for us to be able to win a match when its 4 vs 1.”
These criticisms aren’t entirely new either, as many competitors and hobbyist practitioners have had the same thoughts in the past. With thousands of BJJ matches at IBJJF events every year, it’s not uncommon to see questionable decisions from time to time. These questionable decisions are frustrating for anyone but for top competitors like Craig Jones, undeservedly losing at the IBJJF world championship can have a huge impact on their career. As Jones points out though, the most common criticism levied at the IBJJF comes from a financial perspective:
“The IBJJF does something incredible, this is an incredible business model because if you think… Like if I were to compete for Polaris, Who’s Number One, if I were to compete for a UFC Fight Pass event, not only would they pay for my flight, pay for my accommodation, pay me a purse but sometimes even a win-bonus to go and compete. The IBJJF has managed to do something truly unique, you pay your own way to the event no matter how far you have to travel. You pay for your own hotel, and you pay registration fees, and it doesn’t stop there because you have to pay a black belt membership too. Again, your coach too, he can’t even corner you unless he himself pays his black belt membership card.”
The full video where Craig Jones gives his take on the IBJJF World Championship was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu:
