Joe Rogan recently revealed that he watched the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) and he gave his first thoughts on the historic event. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he would take an interest given that he’s a long-serving UFC commentator and a seasoned BJJ black belt himself. He’s also been an avid fan of grappling for an incredibly long time and he’s watched several different editions of ADCC live over the years. Rogan also hosted Craig Jones on his show during his promotional tour for the event, so he would obviously take an interest in how it went.
Belal Muhammad joined him for a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience and the conversation eventually turned to CJI, where Rogan initially seemed pretty positive about it. The first thing that came up was the epic semi-final match between Kade Ruotolo and Andrew Tackett, which Rogan was clearly a fan of:
“I think they said it’s on YouTube as the greatest grappling match of all time. These guys just went at it.”
Rogan did have one criticism for CJI even though he enjoyed the action, and that was all centred around the groundbreaking new setting that the matches took place in. Not only was Rogan critical of ‘the alley’ (the matted area with sloped walls that CJI used) but he also explained what he thinks the ideal alternative setting would be:
“I don’t like that ring. I don’t like it. I don’t like it because it’s another obstacle. I think they had it right before when there was no obstacles. Like this is an obstacle, this keeps you from being able to get upright. It’s a thing that you have to think about. This is why, like I’ve said this before and I apologise for everybody that’s heard it, I think fighting should take place with no cage. It would be easier to see, and I think it should be on a basketball court and you should fight in the centre.”
