UFC Legend Snatches ‘Greatest Promoter’ Title from Dana White and Claims Craig Jones Is Better

Craig Jones is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in combat sports today, respected globally for his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expertise. He owns multiple elite accolades in prestigious BJJ tournaments, and his instructor lineage directly connects back to the iconic Gracie family. Besides operating his own successful invitational tournament, Jones is currently engaged in a beef with UFC CEO Dana White.

Recently, the Aussie appeared in a debate with popular BJJ expert Mikey Musumeci, hosted by former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. For the unversed, Musumeci recently moved from ONE Championship to UFC Fight Pass Invitational and is working with the promotion to elevate the sport of BJJ. 

During the conversation, Jones and Musumeci talked about UFC’s latest BJJ venture and how they deal with their athletes. While discussing UFC’s lack of promotion tactics, ‘Mighty Mouse’ backed Jones for doing a better job at his Craig Jones invitational tournament on his YouTube channel.

You have a promoter and then you have an athlete. It’s the promoter’s job to promote the athlete’s fights but nowadays they throw it more on the athlete to promote the event….You (Craig Jones) are a better promoter than Dana White. You are killing it. 

Demetrious Johnson via YouTube 

For the unversed, Jones had headlined UFC Fight Pass Invitational 4 in June 2023 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. He defeated ADCC absolute champion Felipe Pena by fastest overtime escape, winning their main event under EBI-style rules and judges. One year later, Jones headlined UFC Fight Pass Invitational 6, again submitting Rafael Lovato Jr. by inside heel hook in 1:12 of regulation. 

Those UFC Fight Pass appearances cemented Jones as a marquee grappling draw, exposing hardcore BJJ audiences and mainstream MMA fans. In 2024, Jones launched the first season of his Craig Jones Invitational, a rival tournament intentionally scheduled the same Las Vegas weekend as ADCC.

The inaugural CJI ran August 16–17, 2024, at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Center, streaming free on YouTube worldwide for fans. CJI 2024 awarded unprecedented $1,000,000 prizes to Kade Ruotolo and Nicky Rodriguez for the under-80kg and over-80kg divisions, respectively.

Every invited athlete received at least $10,001 in appearance money, a statement about improving pay standards in professional grappling events. And now CJI 2025 returned on August 30–31, adopting an eight-team style format with a $1,000,000 team prize pool.