Levi Jones-Leary will no longer be representing Team Misfits Australasia in the upcoming second edition of the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI 2), and he will be replaced by Kenta Iwamoto. It’s obviously going to be a pretty big blow to the team as Jones-Leary made it all the way to the final of the under 80kg division at the inaugural CJI. It’s a testament to the rate at which grappling had grown in the region that they’re able to pull in an elite competitor like Iwamoto on fairly short notice though. Not only did he also compete in the first CJI, but Iwamoto is a three-time ADCC Trials winner too.
It was actually fellow Team Misfits Australasia representative Lucas Kanard who made the announcement:
“Yeah, it’s really gutting news. Levi (Jones-Leary)’s going to have to pull out. I think he’s injured and he’s going to have to take some time off, and we’ll just have to carry the flag for him. Like I think we’re more than capable of it. I trained with Levi for years. I was so pumped go be on a team with him, right? But since he’s not there, we’ll just carry him with us.”
Although Kanard, and undoubtedly his teammates too, are disappointed to see Jones-Leary withdraw; Kenta Iwamoto is a huge asset to the team for CJI 2 and Kanard is well aware of that himself:
“It’s a bummer not to have Levi but we’ve essentially got the opposite. So where Levi was berimbolos and guard-play, Kenta (Iwamoto) is going to be all wrestling and passing and I’m excited. I’ve been in a team with him before in AIGA and his work-ethic is so impressive, man.”
The full episode of On Borrowed Time where it’s revealed that Kenta Iwamoto will replace Levi Jones-Leary for Team Misfits Australasia at CJI 2 was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu:
