The second Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) may have a new headline match following news that Gable Steveson has withdrawn from the event.
Steveson was supposed to grapple Jones in the main event of the August 30th and 31st tournament, but the Olympic gold medalist pulled out with trench toe. Or at least that’s what the official reason is. Whatever the case, Gable is out, leaving no big match with Jones to follow the $1 million grappling bracket.
Enter Chael Sonnen.
In a recent YouTube video, Sonnen claims
Jones called him to ask for suggestions as to who could fill in for Steveson. Following that, Flow Wrestling content head Christian Pyles also called.
“All of a sudden my phone rings and they say, ‘Will you take on Craig Jones?’” Sonnen said. “So that’s where we’re at. I will be at the Real American Freestyle Event on Saturday, and then I will be catching a plane to Las Vegas to rematch Craig Jones.”
Sonnen and Jones have competed against each other before, with Jones catching Sonnen with a heel hook during a Abu Dhabi Combat Club openweight tournament in 2017.
“I’ve had fantasies if I could go back, I could do better, I could shut this down, I could isolate,” he said of a potential rematch.
Chael certainly has enough star power to bring some steam back into the main event of CJI2. It doesn’t match the buzz of seeing Jones handle Steveson, or even Jones handling Gabi Garcia from CJI1. But it’s something.
Unless, that is, it isn’t. Sonnen is well known for his particular brand of truthiness. We don’t doubt he was called as a potential option, and we don’t doubt he accepted a match. Is this what CJI organizers are going with? As of now there’s been no official announcement. We’ll keep you updated as this story develops.
