With the Team Misfits Europe Trials for the second Craig Jones Invitational (CJI 2) coming up on May 24th, 2025, the lineup for all three divisions has now been announced. There are only three spaces available in the team, as Owen Jones is the under 66kg competitor and the under 99kg representative is yet to be confirmed. This trials event will determine the competitors at under 77kg, under 88kg, and over 99kg; with each spot being awarded to the winner of a four-man bracket. All three brackets are stacked with some of the best grapplers from all around Europe, and one surprise entrant from North America.
That man is four-time ADCC Trials winner Paul Ardila, who will be competing in the under 88kg division and will be the team’s wildcard entry if he ends up winning. It’s not going to be easy for him though, as fellow Trials winner Taylor Pearman will be the other top contender to win the bracket. Pearman shot to the top of the sport when he submitted every opponent to win the ADCC European Trials in 2024, including one of the other men here, Ben Bennett, in the final. The final man in the bracket is Mohammed Avtarhanov; a dark horse who could cause a serious upset here.
Pearman was originally supposed to compete at under 77kg here, but was replaced by fellow Englishman Ellis Younger when he decided to move up in weight. The spot in this division came up for grabs when the original invitee, Mateusz Szczecinski, was injured and unable to compete. Pawel Jaworski will be representing Academia Gorila in his place in the trials at least. Top Norwegian competitor and veteran black belt Tarik Hopstock is another big threat in the division, while Welshman Tom Barry is the dark horse who will be taking on some of the toughest tests of his career in this bracket.
The final division is at over 99kg and although this weight class generally has a smaller talent pool, this bracket is just as impressive as the others. Well-rounded Finnish grappler Heikki Jussila has won ADCC Trials twice before and Polish Marcin Maciulewicz burst on to the scene with his Trials win at under 99kg last year. The next man in the division is the veteran competitor Arya Esfandmaz, who is also a Judo black belt with serious standing skills. In fact Maciulewicz is probably going to be the only man here willing to play guard, as Young Swiss wrestler Philippe Geyer is the final entrant.
CJI 2 Team Misfits Europe Trials Full Lineup
Under 77kg
Pawel Jaworski
Ellis Younger
Tarik Hopstock
Tom Barry
Under 88kg
Taylor Pearman
Paul Ardila
Ben Bennett
Mohammed Avtarhanov
Over 99kg
Marcin Maciulewicz
Arya Esfandmaz
Heikki Jussila
Philippe Geyer
Faris Ben-Lamkadem announced the full lineup for all three divisions at the Team Misfits Europe Trials for CJI 2 in a series of posts to his official Instagram account:
