Craig Jones has just announced in an appearance on the Ariel Helwani show that he intends to make a return to gi competition at some point soon. He actually teased that he was going to have some big news for the interview during the lead-up to it, but that particular announcement is certainly something that nobody would have predicted. Not only are all of Jones’ biggest accomplishments in no gi grappling, but he hasn’t even competed in a gi at all for several years at this point. Although he did frequently do so during his journey through the colored belt ranks, he’s since publicly claimed that gi grappling is ‘long dead’.
Jones and Helwani talked about several topics during the interview and when the conversation turned to what matches he might have planned next, that was when he dropped the bombshell:
“I’m honestly thinking about throwing the gi back on. Thinking about jumping back in.”
There are no end of potential opponents that Craig Jones could face in his return to gi competition, but the first suggestion Helwani had was MMA legend Demetrious Johnson:
“That would be a fun one. He should have the advantage there, he’s a seasoned gi grappler of late. And I like the weight disadvantage he has.”
The next question was when Jones would be competing in the gi, particularly whether or not it would be before the end of the year. Jones explained that there was something pretty important to take into consideration:
“It’s tough you know? First and foremost I couldn’t do IBJJF because they would drug test me and then gone is that accomplishment. If I were to do another show, here’s the problem now, I promote my own show. We did CJI so part of me is like ‘do I do it on another show? Support another streaming platform that really didn’t give us much support, or do I wait and do it on my own promoted events?’ and really I lean towards the latter.”
Given that he already performed in a superfight against Gabi Garcia to headline the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him return for another superfight in the second edition. An idea like Jones taking a gi match against a big name from that side of the sport is exactly the kind of thing that might generate a ton of interest in CJI 2, and he has almost a year to prepare for it at this point.
The full interview with Craig Jones where he reveals his plans for a return to gi competition was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of the Ariel Helwani Show:
