Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Takeaways from the 2024 ADCC and Craig Jones Invitational

Grand BJJ weekend, 17–18 August 2024

What an incredible weekend. Putting aside all the drama about the Craig Jones Invitational being held on the same weekend as ADCC, it was a blast for the fans and a true celebration of the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. There were a lot of matches to watch. Old rivalries, established names, newly emerging stars, surprises, crazy submissions, there was all of it.

I won’t go into great detail explaining what these two events were — jiu-jitsu is such a niche topic that I imagine those of you who are reading this article already have a solid idea, but just the basics:

• ADCC is a no-gi grappling tournament held once every two years, dubbed the Olympics of grappling. For the longest time, it has been the most prestigious tournament in the sport. Thanks to this competition, superstars such as Roger Gracie, Marcelo Garcia, Andre Galvao, and Gordon Ryan became world famous. For more information, check out my article about ADCC and some of its celebrated athletes.
• CJI, launched by one of the best grapplers in the world, Craig Jones, made headlines because it offered the most significant prize money to the participants—a million dollars for the winner. This was great. The drama started when CJI was scheduled to be in the same place and on the same weekend as the ADCC. This led to a number of athletes who were expected to participate in ADCC abandoning it and joining CJI instead.

With my impressions fresh, I want to share my quick takeaways from watching two of the best BJJ events of the year (or more!). I’ll briefly discuss the implications for the sport, give my impressions about the results, and share some thoughts about the BJJ techniques we saw in action.

Here we go. First, general observations. Let’s start with the positive:

1. There are many more great grapplers than the stars we are used to seeing on the big stage. Sure, Gordon Ryan, Craig Jones, Nicky Rod, Mica Galvao, Ruotolos, and Tacketts are well-known to the fans. But I had never heard of Levi Jones-Leary, Lucas Kanard, or Adele Fornarino. After Lachlan Giles and Craig Jones, a new generation of Australian grapplers is coming up. Jones-Leary was a standout — I don’t think everyone agreed with Kade winning that final. I would have given the win to Jones-Leary. The way Kanard submitted a top contender, Victor Hugo, changed the course of the entire competition and effectively made Nicky Rod’s path to the win much easier. And Fornarino? Winning her weight class and the absolutes in ADCC? Impressive, even if you argue that she may not have if Ffion Davis was there. There were others — I never thought Felipe Andrew (who reached finals in CJI) could be this effective in no-gi. And who is Michael Pixley, who defeated Nicolas Meregali in the ADCC? That said, some weight categories were affected by the overabundance of competition over one weekend. For example, I don’t know if Felipe Pena would have had such an easy run to the finals if some key heavyweights were not busy in the CJI. And vice versa — while Nick Rodriguez did great, he did not have an extremely tough path to the championship in CJI.
2. Veterans still got it. Standout performances by Vagner Rocha (42), Rafael Lovato Jr. (41), and Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu (43) show that even in a fast-developing sport like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, one can keep up with the young and up-coming fighters. Sure, if there were no CJI on the same weekend, they would have had more of a competition, but still. The 42-year-old Vagner Rocha’s match against the 20-year-old Mica Galvao was amazing to watch. Rocha also clearly enjoyed being there and looked like he was genuinely having fun. Fun fact — in addition to Vagner Rocha, his son Achilles Rocha and his daughter Jasmine Rocha also competed in the 2024 ADCC.
3. Solid prize money is a sure method to make the matches more exciting. Craig Jones Invitational was action-packed. Ruotolos, Tacketts, Josef Chen vs. Andy Varela, Tommy Langaker vs. Renato Canuto, Lucas Barbosa’s knee crush submission, Jones-Leary’s leglock game, and crazy losses of Jimenez and Hugo. CJI did deliver. At the same time, it seems ADCC started paying athletes show money on top of the officially declared prize money, which is good news for the athletes. More money attracts more talent and is an important incentive for any further investments in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The love of the art alone will only take you so far.
4. Watching one mat at a time is better. This is an impossible dilemma, of course. One mat at a time means fewer matches during an event — which was CJI’s choice where competition was limited to only two weight classes. ADCC, where you have a lot more weight classes, would need to last a week if it were to do one mat at a time. That is not very practical, so we had sometimes to keep an eye on three mats at a time. But from the viewer's perspective, one mat at a time is a much, much better show.
5. The alley (the pit) is excellent. The pit — introduced in Karate Combat competitions seems to have worked very well for a grappling competition and is here to stay. No more competitors flying out of the mat area, resetting the match over and over again. CJI had some excellent matches and one of the main reasons for that is that the matches did not have to be interrupted often.
6. Broadcasting the event for free on YouTube. What can I say? Bravo. Bravo. And bravo again. I have the Flograppling subscription (it is 149 USD a year), but quite frankly, if you are not a jiu-jitsu pro, it is hard to justify the expense.
7. The rounds format works. CJI introduced the rounds format, similar to MMA. While the initial reaction was the dislike of the disruption of matches, this change added excitement since the fighters got a quick break between the rounds. Uninterrupted 20-minute matches in ADCC can get boring, especially when both fighters decide to push each other around and pretend that they are doing stand-up, which makes sense as they choose to pace themselves. In CJI, the rest available between rounds allowed the fighters to go for it, knowing they’d get a bit of a break every 5 minutes. As a friend pointed out, it also allows for second chances — in a regular format, one mistake may mean the match is gone. In CJI, even if you lose a round, you can come back in the next two rounds and win.
8. Competition Between CJI and ADCC is, overall, a positive thing. The emergence of a worthy rival (let’s face it, all other events are not even close) creates a competition that could drive innovation and higher standards in future BJJ tournaments. Craig Jones proved his point that the event does not need fireworks, a Bruce Buffer, fancy lights, and other expensive logistical elements to succeed. All a BJJ event needs are highly skilled fighters keen to and motivated to put up exciting matches — massive prize money, an innovative fight arena, and a ruleset took care of that. A little extra fun on the side (Renato Laranja, Gabi Garcia vs. Craig Jones match) didn’t hurt. ADCC certainly has the resources to make positive changes — let’s see how it goes.
9. ADCC is still essential. Unless CJI dramatically expands the number of weight classes (which will hurt the other attractive aspects of it), ADCC is still a necessary platform for many athletes, mainly if CJI’s or other competition’s weight categories are difficult for them to succeed in. You will struggle if you are significantly lower than 80 kg. For example, in the -80kg category in CJI, you best be close, say between 75–80kg. Anything lower than that is a severe disadvantage. I don’t see Diogo Reis or Diogo Pato succeeding there. And in the +80kg category, it is better to be heavier but not too heavy, say, 95–100kg. CJI also does not have a competition for women (except the super fight), so ADCC is the primary competition for the ladies. Don’t get me wrong, ADCC has its share of problems, such as the Flograppling subscription costs and the broadcast quality. But if they fix the fighter pay, everything else is secondary. ADCC might also want to consider a change in the ruleset — the no-point first half of matches has turned into a stall-fest with the competitors getting serious only in the second half of the matches. Then again, participants will find a way to manipulate any ruleset — look at EBI.

While we did enjoy both tournaments, two events on the same weekend may be a little too much. CJI -80kg category was terrific, but +80kg did suffer from the challenge of fighting worthy competitors. If it was a different weekend, that would not have been the case.

Did this weekend have any negative impact on the world of jiu-jitsu? I am not too concerned about the split in the world of grappling. After all, Nicky Rod’s little brother competed in the ADCC and went all the way to the finals. He was not kicked out. So, all the petty drama and showboating aside, for the right money and with the right organizers, anyone will fight anyone as long as everyone treats this as a business and as a legitimate sport.

I do, however, think Brazilian jiu-jitsu got one more step further away from being included in the Olympics. One of the main obstacles to that is the proliferation of rulesets. An Olympic sport requires unified rules, and with the appearance of the CJI ruleset, we just added another one to the list — IBJJF, ADCC, EBI, AJP, and so on. Wrestling and judo had to go through this process to get included in the Olympics, and BJJ will need to do it, too, in order to truly become a global sport. The other two problems — lack of a governing body and anti-doping testing are easier to fix (sure, there are massive egos involved, so not without challenge). Of course, another debate is if it is even worth striving to become an Olympic sport — look how watered-down judo and other martial arts have become after joining the Olympics. But we won’t get into that discussion here.

Now, some thoughts about the results. Good things:

• Ruotolos are a menace. These two will trouble everyone in their weight classes for the next couple of decades. Kade Ruotolo won the -80kg in the CJI and a million dollars. He had a great run, and his match with Andrew Tackett will probably be remembered as one of the best BJJ matches ever (definitely the craziest). Tye had a good run, too; his match with Jason Nolf (US wrestler, 3-time NCAA Division I national champion) was amazing — Tye stood with the renowned wrestler and went head-to-head with him.
• Tackett’s are a menace, too. Andrew Tackett dismantled Nicky Ryan and beat Eoghan O’Flanagan very convincingly. Extremely impressive. William Tackett put up one hell of a fight against a significantly bigger opponent in the +80kg category. I wish he had also entered the -80kg weight class. That would have been interesting.
• The Rodriguez brothers are legitimate contenders. The weekend was a massive win for Nick, who won the +80 kg weight category in the CJI and a million dollars and promptly called out Gordon Ryan, as well as for Jacob, who left ADCC with a silver medal, losing only to Giancarlo Bodoni—one of the best in the world. Remember, JRod didn’t get to ADCC by a special invite, but he had to go through a tough ADCC trial run, which made his achievement all the more impressive.
• Mica Galvao is another menace. The silver medalist of ADCC in 2022 and the gold medal winner this time, Galvao has won every prestigious tournament out there (except CJI, ;). With a confident run in ADCC 2024, beating Oliver Taza, PJ Barch, and Vagner Rocha, he solidified his place among the greats. Between him, Ruotolos, Tacketts, and perhaps Josef Chen, exciting times ahead!
• Giancarlo Bodoni is a two-time ADCC winner. Bodoni is a very likable guy with a very solid jiu-jitsu. I enjoyed seeing him win in 2022 and was happy he won again this time, especially in a dramatic final against JRod. I can understand that the win made him somewhat relaxed, so he did not do great in the absolutes, losing to Cyborg in the semi-finals.
• Don’t sleep on Dante Leon. Leon lost to Elijah Dorsey in the first round on points but came back strong in the absolutes, defeating Mica Galvao and Giancarlo Bodoni and winning bronze. Very impressive.
• Kaynan Duarte is a three-time ADCC winner. I have never liked his style. Every time I find myself rooting against Kaynan in the finals, including this time as he fought Cyborg, I can’t deny it—winning ADCC three times in such a challenging weight class is incredible. Though we are left wondering how he would fare against Meregali, then again, Meregali lost, so moving on. Kaynan also won the absolute category this time, which is doubly impressive. Next for him is the match with Gordon Ryan. Let’s see.
• Helena Crevar. Of course, we have to include Jon Danaher's 17-year-old student, who won silver. It was a very impressive performance.

Ffion Davis, Levi Jones-Leary, Lucas Barbosa, and Fellipe Andrew impressed in the CJI. Baby Shark (two-time ADCC winner), Adele Fornarino (who won the weight class and the absolutes in the ADCC), Vagner Rocha, Cyborg, Rafael Lovato Jr, and Luke Griffith, all did great. Even Felipe Pena — we have to record this ADCC among his achievements. Oliver Taza — if not for Mica in the quarterfinals, he could have gone all the way to the finals of the ADCC. Renato Canuto and Josef Chen lost early, but I can’t call that a bad performance — they both looked great.

Now, disappointing performances:

• Nicholas Meregali — I had high expectations, but he lost in the quarter-finals to a relatively unknown competitor. Not much else to say.
• Nicky Ryan — got smashed and looked like he was not in a competition shape.
• Victor Hugo — got caught in an unexpected leglock from Lucas Kanard, in the first round of CJI. It is a shame, I would have liked to see him go against Nicky Rod.
• Yuri Simoes — nothing to write home about in his 21–0 loss against Gordon Ryan. He looked like he did not belong. Has never been exciting to watch.
• Garry Tonon — maybe I am being unfair here, but my initial reaction was that he shouldn’t compete anymore. Sure, he can give anyone a run for their money, but it doesn’t feel like he is in for real, maybe because he is entirely in MMA now. He had a not-very-well-known but tough opponent with excellent jiu-jitsu. Perhaps he needs to do superfights every once in a while.
• Roberto Jimenez — I had high hopes for Jimenez, one of the most exciting grapplers out there. He is as game as anyone. But unfortunately for him, Levi Jones-Leary happened.

Izaak Michell, Jacob Couch, Mahamed Aly, and Luke Rockhold (I was hoping he’d do well, but alas) all had disappointing performances.

Special category — Gordon Ryan — I’m afraid his performance was underwhelming, considering what we are used to seeing. I saw his interview after the tournament, and he clearly was not at 100% physically — it was visible during both matches. However happy I was to see Gordon compete, beating Pena and Simoes one per day is not a significant achievement for the best grappler in the world. I genuinely hope he is back to 100% soon.

Finally, let’s talk about a few quick takeaways in terms of BJJ technique. Much can be said about guard retention, exemplified in Jones-Leary’s unpassable guard and guard passing — think of JRod’s bodylock passing or Josef Chen and his tripod passing. But I will focus on four points — wrestling, speed factor, leglocks, and back control.

• Wrestlers can’t just walk in and win. Pat Downey, Jason Nolf, and others stepped in and did well, but even the highest level wrestling won’t win you grappling competitions anymore. Felipe Andrew dominated Daniel Kerkvliet. Tye Ruotolo preferred to stand up against Nolf, and yes, Downey beat Rockhold (a diminished-looking version) but lost to Adam Bradley. By now, the best grapplers know enough of wrestling not to be dominated by even the best wrestlers. If you don’t train jiu-jitsu, you won’t win. A wrestler will still do well against relative beginners in jiu-jitsu, but at the highest level, that won’t be enough. The other side of this point is that without solid wrestling, it is close to impossible to be successful in a jiu-jitsu competition.
• Speed matters. In training, we tell our sparring partners to bring the speed down, but in competition, speed offers a massive competitive advantage. Look at Ruotolos, Tacketts, and JRod, for example. It goes beyond putting a pace on the opponent. Beyond physicality and conditioning. It is putting a kind of pace the opponent cannot match even when they explode. Speed also allows fast athletes to get out of pins and submissions in a way that is generally frowned upon in jiu-jitsu training, but in competition, it just works. I am not sure how this can be done, but perhaps part of competition preparation should also focus on improving speed. Basically, unless you are Gordon Ryan, keeping people in mount or side control has become extremely difficult.
• Leglocks. From Kanard’s and Jones-Leary’s impressive performances to Lucas Barbosa’s knee crush against Josef Chen. Kade Ruotolo, Eoghan O’Flanaghan, Helena Crevar. Dante Leon’s heelhook against Mica Calvao. Diego Pato’s kneebar against Ethan Crelinsten. Charles Negromonte’s kneebar out of nowhere against Izaak Michell. Leglocks were impressive not only as an attack weapon but also in combination with guard passing and even as a defensive measure. It should be clear at this point (if it wasn’t already) that every leglock position, leglock defenses, entries, knowledge of backtake techniques in defense of leglocks, and the ability to chain leglock attacks as positions change — all this should be part of a world-class grappler. Leglocks are also used positionally — athletes combine leglock attacks with guard passing and use leg attacks to off-balance opponents and transition to better positions. Leglocks are no longer isolated techniques; the world-class athletes integrate leglocks seamlessly into broader game plans. If you have gaps in your leglock arsenal, you will be exposed. Mercilessly.
• Back Control is King. Some key matches were decided by back takes and Rear Naked Chokes. Nicky Rod used it as his main pathway to victory in the CJI. Several ADCC finals were decided by the same method: Mica Galvao vs. Vagner Rocha, Kaynan Duarte vs. Ravael Lovato Jr., and Felipe Pena vs. Luke Griffith. Competitors in both CJI and ADCC used backtakes to threaten submissions, rack up points, and provoke mistakes from their opponents. Watching Bodoni control JRod from the back was instructive, just as much as watching JRod escape the said control. So work entries, controls, submissions, as well as back defences.

So, a fantastic weekend! I'm looking forward to the next CJI and the next ADCC! And hopefully the New Wave and B-team athletes will look past this dumb feud and we can see them compete against each other, just as we saw Bodoni and JRod go at it.

One last thought. We tend to forget that these incredible athletes are human beings, with their daily lives, challenges, injuries, and so on. I am sure every one of them fought with some kind of injury. So, regardless of whether you are a CJI or ADCC fan, whether you are pro-Craig Jones or Gordon Ryan, let’s make sure we appreciate these warriors who put their health on the line for our enjoyment, as well as to advance the art and sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

If you liked this read, check out my home page for articles about philosophy, learning, self-improvement, literature, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and more.

I have been training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for over six years. I am a brown belt, and I love sharing my experience to recruit more people into the ranks of BJJ practitioners and help everyone learn and improve as fast as possible. Here are my other articles about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:

• BJJ — Systems Learning
• How to Study BJJ Instructionals
• 7 Reasons To Do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
• The Path to Blue Belt
• You are a Blue Belt, now what?
• Keep Improving While Injured
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Mat
• Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC). Rules and Tactics
• Upgrade Your Game with 1–2–1 Principle
• Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC). Heroes and Takeaways
• I am a Purple Belt. Now What?
• Down, Up and Down Again
• Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a Team Sport