The Combat Jiu-Jitsu world championships regularly set up a superfight match or two for their events but the promotion has really pulled all the stops with the upcoming Featherweight division as they’ve managed to book UFC veteran Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone against Craig Jones. The pair will meet in the middleweight division and it represents an interesting prospect as the two men will be bridging the gap between the two worlds in which they compete. While this isn’t an overly common situation, it is pretty much the core principle behind the invention of Combat Jiu-Jitsu, the idea that a viable sport could lie in between BJJ and MMA.
Craig Jones is of course one of the most successful competitors in the BJJ world and remains one of the most popular on the planet regardless of the fact that he has not yet won a world championship. This isn’t the first time that he’ll be coming into contact with the highest level of UFC competitors however, as he has beaten several other UFC veterans like Davi Ramos, Vinny Magalhaes, Gilbert Burns, and Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson. He has also recently been serving as a training partner and cornerman for UFC Featherweight world champion Alexander Volkanovski in his most recent fights. Their relationship is relatively new but the pair seem to work incredibly well together, ever since Jones served as the grappling coach for Volkanovski’s team on season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone is just as illustrious in his field as Craig Jones is in his, with over fifty professional MMA fights under his belt and only one person has most fights in the UFC than him, with Cerrone currently sitting at a remarkable 37 UFC fights and counting. While he uses his elite level Jiu-Jitsu skills to great effect in the octagon, he’s no stranger to professional grappling either and was recently seen submitting fellow UFC veteran Rafael Dos Anjos in EBI overtime at Submission Underground 19.
The full Combat Jiu Jitsu Featherweight World Championships event, including the superfight between Craig Jones and Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, will be available to watch live on December 19th on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.
