This article is part of our Craig Jones Invitational 2024 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
Lucas Kanard has just withdrawn from ADCC 2024 in order to compete at over 80kg in the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational (CJI). Kanard is making the switch right at the last minute, with just two weeks left before both the events take place. The decision has had to come this late though, because Kanard was actually tapped to replace Mason Fowler in the bracket. Fowler announced that he was withdrawing from CJI just a few days ago and although no official reason has been confirmed just yet, it must have been something big to keep him out of a tournament with a million dollars on the line for the winner.
The over 80kg division at CJI is already full of elite grapplers and now Lucas Kanard is going to face the toughest test of his career in the bracket. He was already set to compete in one of the biggest tournaments in the world of course, as he earned an invite to ADCC by winning the ADCC Asia and Oceania Trials 2024. Kanard has been one of the top competitors in Australia for quite some time now, so it’s no surprise that he managed to win the ADCC Trials bracket there at under 88kg even though it had some tough opposition.
Not only will he be facing a whole new level of opposition at CJI, Kanard will also be up against grapplers with a wide range of styles. Along with fellow ADCC Trials winners and ADCC veterans, Kanard will also be up against MMA legend Luke Rockhold and elite wrestlers like Pat Downey and Daniel Greg Kerkvliet. That isn’t the only new challenge for Kanard though, as CJI will also be taking place in the unique ‘alley’ which will make use of angled pit walls and competing in that setting will present vastly different opportunities to a traditional matted area like ADCC.
The Craig Jones Invitational announced the news that Lucas Kanard was going to be leaving ADCC 2024 to replace Mason Fowler in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
