Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
This is the official podcast of the Bulletproof For BJJ movement. Hosted by JT & Joey. Each episode the founders break down problems that Jiu-jitsu people experience, giving guidance and tips to improve your training for BJJ. With the goal of helping every body on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu path reduce their chance of injury, improve their strength and mobility to become more resilient.
Bulletproof For BJJ Podcast
Is Craig Jones bigger than Jiu Jitsu?
Craig Jones has taken the jiu-jitsu world by storm, reaching a level of fame that even Gordon Ryan couldn't touch. How did he do it? By blending extraordinary grappling skills with a knack for social media and a flair for the dramatic. Jeff Glover even compares him to a real-life WWE character! From staged controversies with Gabby Garcia to his expert understanding of psychology, Craig knows exactly how to keep us all on the edge of our seats. His academic background in psychology isn't just a footnote; it's the secret sauce that makes his antics so compelling.
But what's next for this jiu-jitsu rock star? We dig into whether Craig's high-octane, seemingly reckless lifestyle is sustainable, especially considering his impressive physical condition possibly bolstered by performance-enhancing drugs. Join us as we ponder his future impact on the jiu-jitsu community and beyond.
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Speaker 1:Today we're talking about how Craig Jones has been elevated to God status. Now, jt doesn't like the choice of words. He doesn't think God really hits the mark. That's fine. But we can agree that Craig has elevated to a level not previously seen for any grappling athlete. I would agree with that.
Speaker 1:Craig's celebrity has extended beyond his jiu-jitsu skills. So, yeah, he would be the number one most famous guy in jiu-jitsu. I would say jujitsu, I would say so. I guess, like, if we're looking back, gordon ryan was maybe the person like prior to craig who'd probably become the biggest, like most celebrity person in jujitsu, right, yeah, um, craig has managed to surpass that and I guess it's been. He's been on the cusp for a while but he's kind of now moved out of jujitsu and just into like regular stardom in a sense. Yeah, he's not a mainstream celebrity, but people who don't do jujitsu have heard of him Because of his reach in social media, what he's done with going on podcasts and just his general ability to create attention in a sensational way. People are keen, people want entertainment.
Speaker 1:And actually Jeff Glover had said and I saw Jeff Glover at the after party at CJI, actually we had a good chat. He's a lovely guy, is he? Yeah, he's a legend. He believes that Craig Jones is what a professional wrestler, like a WWE type wrestler, would be if they were a real human. He said I know what Craig Jones' ass looks like. He's like how many grapplers can you say that about? You know what I mean. And he was just saying when I think about Craig Jones, straight away, I just see his ass. It's like hard for me to shake that. But also, he's great at jujitsu, right, like. You can't deny that. So it's really interesting that he's done really uncanny, weird, funny things which might be considered taboo, disrespectful, all this stuff, but really at the end of the day, that's what makes things sensational. I mean, yeah, he's done extremely borderline things, right, yeah, and if you look at like, if you look at CJI, like there was a lot of shit there that wouldn't go down. Well, no, typically, you know, like if you look at a lot of the comedic dialogue from Renato La Raja about Gabby and about women and you're like, well, that was really poor taste, but it was totally in line with what everyone was expecting. But I think the thing that was actually surprising this is the thing, like I get out of it, and this is this is the kind of genius. You come for one thing but you stay for another. Yeah, right, and so what got you in isn't what keeps you on, which is interesting in terms of human psychology.
Speaker 1:Now, a lot of people don't know this about Craig. He actually studied psychology at university and he's actually better at the psychological game, psychological element than most people would probably give him credit for. I give him full credit for this because I trained with him for many years, so I understand kind of a bit how he thinks. And it was a gabby renaissance like even the, even the credible, like what you don't understand, and I was like, oh shit, this looks bad. When he kissed gabby at the weigh-in, she's like that's it. She's blowing up like I'm not doing this and she was.
Speaker 1:I think that was completely engineered. Yeah, yeah, you know like absolutely, but but it gets more people like, oh no, is it? Is it? Yeah, it's the wwe drama, yeah, right, and and everything needs that. It doesn't matter if it's jujitsu or not. Every kind of event needs something that gets you intrigued, like if. If you're just like all right, this guy, that guy, boring, yeah, it's kind of the UFC embedded, but like even more exciting, yeah, and if we can throw it back I can't remember the comedian's name, it'll come to me. He really changed comedy. Jim Carrey did a thing. It's called man on the Moon. I'm trying to remember the comedian, it'll come to me. But basically he used to do rubber matches where he would wrestle. He would wrestle women and people are like this is bullshit, you're fighting women. And he's like because I'm stronger and just do all this silly stuff. Ah, kaufman, it was the gentleman's name, I think it was Mark Kaufman. Anyway, it was very much that it felt like that to me. I'm like this is a rubber match. This is a kind of a bit of a a nonsense match in a way. Yeah, yeah, you know, but it's a piece of entertainment. People wanted to see it. Give the people what they want.
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Speaker 1:Do you do? You know anyone that was like there for the? Actually I did two of the guys here in the office yesterday. I was like did you guys like sam and dylan, not jujitsu guys? I'm like, did you watch the event? They're like just the match with gabby and I'm like, oh, that's hilarious, let the people in. Because, because for me and probably for you too and most jiu-jitsu folks like very little interest in that I was like, oh, I wonder how that plays out, but don't really give a fuck. But for them it was like, yeah, we're tuning in for that shit, but when was the last time they did that? Like an adult super fight between a guy and a gal. Yeah, I've never seen one before. It's maybe never happened, right? No, that's right In and of itself. That is spectacular. The million bucks in suitcases yeah, spectacular. Fucking oath, right. Yep, the fucking glasses with the little cocaine spoon, the sugar spoon.
Speaker 1:There's so many details in his game, right In this game, that he's playing that you're like holy shit. Because here's what strikes me about him, and I think this is pretty clear at the event he's not an extroverted kind of guy. No, he didn't talk a lot at the event when he got on the mic. Most of the stuff he did around the Gabby match was orchestrating. Yeah, it wasn't him saying a lot of shit. Anato did a lot of shit, like he kind of, and Arto did a lot of talking. Gabby did a lot of talking. He. At the end of the event, when he got on the mic, he was like after parties at fucking Wynn, see you there. Yeah, like, right, so he doesn't immediately strike. He was the kind of guy that thrives in these hugely like social situations, but somehow he's like he's orchestrated a fucking guy in the middle of these situations, yes, which to me I'm like man hats off, like it's just, uh, incredible.
Speaker 1:I think the interesting thing has been how craig jones has been able to use jujitsu to connect himself to celebrities much larger than himself, whether that be gsp or that be. Did he came out with gsp? Yeah, karate combat in, uh, abu dhabi, of course, right, that's how he got the the whole alleyway hooked up. Right now we still don't know really who funded it and maybe we're never going to know, and that's fine, but interesting enough. Like he you know, he's on Rogan, he was on Chris Williams, he was on Lex Friedman Like he is going to platforms where I mean, yeah, he has El Segundo, right, he has his own podcast, but he's doing whatever he can so that more people who are maybe on the fringe of jiu-jitsu are drawn in by who's this fucking crazy australian guy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because what is very interesting to me is that american viewers and people who it is refreshing to see that style, his style which is kind of understated, you don't know if he's joking or not. Now, as Aussies we get it. We're like he's taking the piss. That's a very common thing in Australia to just say something absolutely fucking so far out, but just say it deadpan and just see if you get a reaction. But people are like, oh, is he serious? Did you mean that? Oh my God. And you're like, no, it's kind of like sarcasm mixed with a bit of you know wit, and it's so interesting because people still don't know how to gauge Craig. They're still not sure if he's joking the American audience in particular. Like you see it, even when he's, even when he was talking with Chris Williams, he could see their points, like Chris, like I'm not really sure how to respond to that. Should I laugh? You know, know, and he's English brethren, he gets that sense of humour, right, sure, but yeah, craig, craig plays that game extremely well. So here's my, here's my thinking. I think, like I can see that he's going to be the guy he's going to be somehow instrumental in exposing, grappling to a whole new part of the world. Sure, like he's going to bring in an audience that wasn't there before and that wouldn't have found it if it had have just been. These are the best athletes and this is the event where you can see them fight, right.
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Speaker 1:But my well, not fear. But I would think we probably lose him to the like. He probably, like transcends jiu-jitsu not too far from the future to go to bigger things. Potentially yeah, I think it's, um, potentially. Yeah, I think it's already. It's already there. I think it's already there.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think craig had already looked at the game and went oh, I'm not gonna get where I want to be being a jujitsu athlete, so what do I do? Now it's topped out and look, you know, gordon ryan could have done the same, but he was just too caught up in the zero sum of being the greatest grappler of all time. Yeah, I don't think Gordon could have done. It Doesn't, doesn't have the charisma. No, he doesn't. But what I'm saying is he got the skills in Jiu Jitsu. He had the reach, he had the position, he had the money. If he had the imagination and different things, he could have gone there.
Speaker 1:But I and you know he will be the dana white of jujitsu, he will be the matchmaker, he will be the front man promoting the big shows and he'll be the one to bring brock lesnar into fight gabby. And you know, like you know, he's, he's going to be the one that's going to extend the boundaries and you know, I don't know where it goes. I I think the challenge is it's really hard to keep up such a big show of a life. Yeah, because he travels a lot. Yeah, you know he's in Uzbekistan or he's in Ukraine. He's you know he's oil wrestling in Turkey. You know like the guy lives this rock star life. I don't, it's. Yeah, it sounds like it would be really tough to keep up that life. It looks fun If you had to make a, if you had to make a, if you had to make a call on where.
Speaker 1:We see where craig jones is five years from now. What's your prediction, mystic jt? Um, I don't know about five years from. I think in five years, craig will have made his own tournament, the biggest tournament in the world. It will supersede the adcc. So, however he does that, I believe that will happen.
Speaker 1:A lot of people saying he can't repeat it. I don't think that's true. I think he can repeat it. I don't know if it can be sustained. I don't know if it can be evolved.
Speaker 1:My concern is that Craig doesn't live a healthy lifestyle. It's like a Kanye thing, it's like, oh, this big star, and then secretly they're addicted to drugs and just dying behind the camera. Right, you know, I think Craig puts on more of a show about you know what he does with his life than is true, like I think Behind Closed Doors is maybe a little bit more conservative, even though the man can't drink. I think we might lose Craig Jones early. Wow, yeah, I think Craig Jones goes out. Oh, you think he parties too, craig Jones early. Wow, yeah, I think Craig Jones goes out. Oh, you think he parties too hard. Yeah, wow, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think in 10 years maybe he's not here I think he might go out like a true rock star and then he's the GOAT.
Speaker 1:Wow, not in five years, but in his lifetime. I mean we all die in our lifetime. Right, what lifetime? I mean we all die in our lifetime. What? Yeah, no, I and I'm not saying this with any, I'm not saying this in a happy way, because that's, that's wrong I just, yeah, he's, you know it's, it's tough, he lives a rock star lifestyle. Yeah, I, I don't I mean fair, I don't um, I don't see it that way. I reckon he, I mean yeah, I think he has a good time and I think he, I think he does a very good job of portraying the rock star lifestyle.
Speaker 1:You look at the guy like he's in shape, he's obviously using performance enhancing drugs, but like it's not, like he has to be looking after himself to some degree, and I'm also looking at it as he's got a stake right in a lot of different things now. You know, think about podcasting thing, el segundo, the productions, b team studios, and I'm like, this motherfucker's a businessman and most of these businessmen like businessmen these days. They look after themselves because they know that they got to like you now got to perform in those different arenas. Does he become some magic hybrid which is like joe rogan meets dana white? Yeah, I think he's. He's maybe going to become like the celebrity if. Does he become some magic hybrid which is like Joe Rogan meets Dana White? Yeah, I think he's maybe going to become like the.
Speaker 1:If you were to merge, like Alex Hormozy with Dana White, you get Craig Jones, but you've got to then bring in a sense of humor somewhere from Britain or Australia, because Something like that Sorry, america, sure, yeah, no, I think it's very interesting, I think it's good for jiu-jitsu for now, but then maybe it's like John Jones. There was a point in time when John Jones was the greatest, and then the cocaine and the hookers and speeding in the Ferrari and abusing people, and then, oh, maybe he's too smart for that. I don't know, but there's a point at which we all know the rockstar lifestyle is not sustainable, you know. And so how long can he keep it up? I don't want to see the show end. I'm here for it, let's see. Let's see where this goes. Uh, you know the guy, the guy's doing well and, uh, it's been good for jujitsu. So so, let's, let's keep the party happening. Fucking, I'm here for it too. Credit to the guy, thanks, fam.
