Craig Jones is an Australian Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter, and he made an appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast this week. That is to say, the 32-year-old MMA fighter certainly left an impression, as he dropped $1 million in cash on the table in the middle of the interview. The purpose of this stunt was to market his upcoming fighting tournament, which will be called the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational.
The JRE MMA Show #157 - Craig Jones
Mr. Jones pulls out 1 million dollars in cash before going into details about his upcoming Jiu-Jitsu tournament which will be giving out 3 million dollars in cash prizes to the winners. pic.twitter.com/ysUksfNnV5
— LUDIS 🤜🫶 (@LudisCharta) May 28, 2024
"You brought with you a million dollars in cash which I've never seen before," Rogan stated. "I've never seen a million dollars in one place... I've never even seen a million-dollar check."
To point out, Jones told Rogan that the money comes from an anonymous donor, which the host then asks about this secret person behind the funding.
"What does this guy do that he has all this loot?" Rogan asked.
"I really don't want to say," Jones responded. "I'm gonna keep it all directed at me. It's all above board legal, you know what I mean. But we are sorta keeping it mysterious. I want any negative energy towards the tournament coming in my direction, not the anonymous sugar daddy in the background."
As for the purpose of flaunting the million dollars, Jones seemingly wanted to show the potential fighters, that he has the prize money to pay the champions of his new tournament. Furthermore, Jones added that the money made from ticket sales and everything will be donated to jiu-jitsu charities.
On the Craig Jones Invitational website, the event is described as a "nonprofit dedicated to elevating sport and athlete compensation, while simultaneously raising money for charitable causes."
With this in mind, Rogan talked about Jones seemingly going against the Abu Dhabi Combat Club, in which Jones also competed and won two silver medals.
Jones feels the fighter pay is not fair, as the prize money for the ADCC is $10,000. So Jones is trying to compete against them, by putting on his own event, in which the winner in each bracket will receive a $1,000,000 cash prize (three different weight classes).
Not only that, Jones is also paying each fighter $10,001 just for participating.
If you didn't already think that was enough pettiness, Jones will be hosting his competition on August 16 & 17, which is the same exact weekend as the ADCC tournament. Both tournaments will take place in Las Vegas, with Jones reserving the Thomas & Mack Center, and the ADCC being held a couple miles down the road at the T-Mobile Arena.
The reason for all of the antics is evidently Jones trying to prove the point, that fighters should be fairly paid for their contribution in growing the sport. And this is a cause that many fighters have been pushing towards for the last decade.
Jones stated, "I feel loyal to the athletes, for what we do, and how much bigger the sport is now, we should be compensated better. That's why I've taken a massive risk in doing this."
With all that being said, hopefully Jones hired a good security team for when he exits the building carrying around all that cash.
Related: Bruce Buffer's Paycheck For Each Fight Will Knockout Any UFC Fan
