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.
Mackenzie Dern recently opened up about her decision to leave ADCC 2024 in order to compete at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) instead, explaining the reasons behind it. The move came as a huge shock to the grappling world, as Dern had only recently announced her return to professional grappling as part of the under 55kg division at ADCC 2024. She was going to be one of the biggest names competing in the whole event and fans were excited to see her make a comeback after so long focusing on MMA, then she decided to switch to CJI for a superfight with Ffion Davies instead.
Dern started out by explaining her opinions on the rivalry between CJI and ADCC, and why she thinks it will be good for the sport:
“I think rivalry, rivalries in general and competition, is always good you know? Because I think it kinda pushes each other, like the organizations, to kind of just keep building and in the end… ones going to try and keep pushing but I hope Craig Jones (Invitational) is not just like a one time thing. ADCC is like tradition, it’s a title that I think so many people respect, you know?”
She isn’t wrong either, ADCC is the most prestigious title in no gi grappling and it’s going to take a sustained effort over several years for Craig Jones to take over that status with his new tournament. Mackenzie Dern then went on to explain why she personally decided to compete at CJI instead of ADCC 2024:
“I mean, Craig Jones (Invitational) it’s money… Since I already have the ADCC title, since I have my UFC career, that’s a priority. The Craig Jones (Invitational), how they offered like a big purse just for one superfight… The ruleset and everything, it’s been like 7/8 years since I fought grappling so for me to have my comeback now the Craig Jones (Invitational) actually ended up being a style matchup very similar to MMA. It’s three five-minute rounds, no points, just 10-9 point system for each round. So basically just aggressive and go and go, and fifteen minutes max. In ADCC we have three different fights and one fight can be forty minutes if we get overtime and then the champion has like $10,000 and that’s it. And you have to win, and I already have the title.”
The full rules for CJI have been announced and it’s clear that the minds behind it have made an effort to appeal to MMA fans by taking certain aspects of that format over to BJJ, something that might pay off in a big way when it comes to appealing to casual viewers. ADCC has made a few changes of their own this year too, and Dern still looks at the event positively even though she hopes they make some improvements:
“I’m hoping that ADCC too will take this and they’ll put the purse higher for the athletes and stuff like that. I mean I’m grateful for both, it was really hard for me to leave the ADCC because I was invited like in January or February and I was like training for this and everything like that.”
Mackenzie Dern went on to explain that it wasn’t just money and ruleset that made her switch from ADCC 2024 to CJI either, the opportunities of other women in the sport is another thing that played into her decision:
“For me to have like pull out if something happens Saturday night like I get injured or something like that, for me to pull out with two weeks left… to try and take someone’s dream of winning the ADCC title, it didn’t feel right you know? For the Craig Jones (Invitational) I have like a backup fight alternative fighter who is kinda like on hold if anything happens, and it’s just one fight. So it was a little bit easier and I felt not as bad being able to fight UFC and hopefully the goal is to win, I’ve been training for both fights at the same time.”
There’s no confirmation on who the backup competitor is for the superfight between Dern and Ffion Davies, but it will have to be a very talented grappler to take on either of these women. Dern finished off her thoughts on ADCC and CJI with another look at the future of the sport, and how this rivalry might improve it moving forward:
“I hope they compete with each other honestly, with organizations, you know? Fighters out of the way but the organizations, I hope they keep trying to beat each other and just getting better and better for the athletes. But we’ll see, we’ll see if the Craig Jones (Invitational) is more than just one time. You know it’s like over $2 million in prize money so I don’t know how often that’s going to be but I like the idea, the idea is really cool.”
The full interview with Mackenzie Dern where she explains why she left ADCC 2024 for the Craig Jones Invitational and gives her thoughts on the rivalry was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of MMAJunkie:
