Craig Jones is an Australian grappler, BJJ black belt under Lachlan Giles and a real fan of leopard print. You may know him for his successes such as winning in 2015 as a purple belt IBJJF World No-Gi Champion or for being a two-times winner of ADCC Trials. However, the 2017 ADCC finals brought him the greatest fame. At that event, he submitted the tournament’s 88-kilogram #1 pick, Leandro Lo. Craig Jones confirmed his position by winning numerous prestigious events, including multiple belt titles in the Polaris Invitational promotion.
Craig Jones Biography
Craig Jones was born in Adelaide (South Australia) in 1991. He has been involved with the sport since childhood. As a kid, he was involved in Australian football and basketball. He also had contact with judo and taekwondo. As a teenager, he began his adventure with MMA and dreamed of being a UFC fighter. In 2006 as a 15 years old Craig Jones started training BJJ in his cousin academy called ISOHEALTH. While practicing there, he began to succeed in numerous Australian competitions.
Later, already as a purple belt he changed his academy to Absolute MMA gym in Melbourne (back then called Maromba Academy) and started training under Lachlan Giles. In 2015 he earned brown belt and year later black one. Through all his BJJ journey he was competing regularly both nationally and internationally. He also became a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor and graduated with a degree in Behavioural Science (Psychology).
Worldwide competition career
BJJ world all around the globe heard about Craig Jones for the first time after his amazing performance at the 2015 IBJJF No-Gi Worlds, where he became a champion in a really good style. The same year he won the Asia and Oceania ADCC Trials at purple belt, qualifying for ADCC. This event was unsuccessful for him, but it didn’t stop him. His next big worldwide step was getting a bronze medal at the 2016 UAEJJF Abu Dhabi Pro. After that, he got the invitation to EBI. At this event, his run was stopped by Vagner Rocha in the semi-finals.
In 2017 Craig Jones once again won the Asia and Oceania Trials and qualified for ADCC. In the first round of the event, he fights against Leandro Lo and won. At this event, he was stopped in the semi-finals by Keenan Cornelius. After ADCC, Craig Jones got an invitation to EBI again. This time he got second place, losing only to Gordon Ryan. In 2018 he won a Polaris belt and end up in 3rd place in KASAI Pro. Next year he has done exactly the same. However, in 2019 he added to it also 2nd Place at ADCC World Championship.
Popularity
Of course, Craig Jones owes his popularity to his competition successes, good fighting style, and some unexpected victories. But despite that, he just seems to be a really cool guy. In contrast to some cocky fighters, such as Gordon Ryan or Nicky Rod, Craig Jones is a bit more easy-going and with a distance to himself. On his Instagram bio, we can see “Second Place in Everything”, which is very different from Nicky Rod’s “Black Belt Slayer” or Gordon Ryan “Greatest of all the time”. He also seems to have a really good and friendly relation with his coach Lachlan Giles. This can be evidenced by for example his recreation of Lachlan Giles engagement photos.
He also got his unique style which consists of speedos, love for leopard print and slogan #fuckcraigjones. These all things combined with a calm attitude towards fights and really good technical skills make him one of the best grapplers in BJJ world right know and for sure a very interesting person.
P.S. He got his own merchandise. So if you also like leopard print and slogan #fuckcraigjones you should definitely buy his rashguard or shorts.
