Craig Jones added a $50,000 submission bonus to get the action more exciting on day two of Craig Jones Invitational 2 in Las Vegas, and B-Team’s Victor Hugo cashed an extra six-figure cash — on top of the his team’s $1,000,000 prize for winning the Quintet-style challenge.
B-Team and Team Australasia battled for a spot in the final and Hugo, a 5-time IBJJF world champion, scored big for his team with an arm-triangle choke over Fabricio Andrey. Team Australasia’s Belal Etiabari, who suffered a broken
foot in the quarterfinals on Saturday, decided to compete either way to try and get his team to the $1 million duel. Hugo, however, secured another arm-triangle choke to get B-Team over — and cash $100,000 alone in the semifinals.
New Wave earned the other spot in the final by eliminating Team Americas on Saturday night’s quarterfinals and following it up against Atos in the semifinal on Sunday. Luke Griffith finished Diego Pato with a rear-naked choke before tapping to an armbar against Felipe Pena, but the deciding victory came with an armbar by his teammate Giancarlo Bodoni against Ronaldo Junior.
B-Team selected Chris Wojcik as its first representative in the final, and New Wave threw in a lighter, yet super dangerous jiu-jitsu great Mica Galvao in the pit against him. Galvao worked on top for most of the match, and Wojcik managed to survive a last-second ankle lock to get both eliminated.
Hugo returned after two submissions in the semifinals, and New Wave countered with a durable veteran Vagner Rocha. After surviving a rear-naked choke attempt from Kaynan Duarte in the semifinal, Rocha also wouldn’t tap to Hugo from the same position. Hugo attacked the ankle in the final minute, but Rocha slipped out.
Ethan Crelinsten (B-Team) vs. Dorian Olivarez (New Wave), a rematch from a past ADCC trials, was the third contest in the final duel. After putting on a great performance in the previous stage, Olivarez got the mount and smashed him with non-stop action but also failed get a submission.
New Wave still had their two heaviest grapplers still on deck, and picked two-time ADCC world champion Giancarlo Bodoni to enter the pit with a big weight advantage over Jozef Chen on the second-to-last match of the night. With another draw, it was down to CJI openweight champion Nicky Rod and 2024 ADCC silver medalist Luke Griffith to try and decide it without needing the judges.
Rodriguez and Griffith wrestled on the feet for over three minutes without either athlete securing a takedown. Rodriguez finally took his opponent to the mat after a body lock and quickly went to side control. Rodriguez locked a choke from north-south position and released it to get the mount, but Griffith again escaped. Time ran out, again, and the team duel went to the judges’ scorecards.
After a short break, it was announced that all three judges scored B-Team vs. New Wave a 47-47 draw. The criteria determined that the final match would then be the tiebreaker, and Rodriguez’s performance over Griffith got B-Team the overall victory — and the $1 million.
Helena Crevar shines for six-figure check
CJI’s first women’s $100,000 tournament had Helena Crevar walk away with the prize after tapping out Andre Galvao’s daughter Sarah Galvao with a third-round straight ankle lock in the final. On Saturday, Crevar won a decision over Adele Fornarino while Galvao eliminated Ana Carolina Vieira on the other semifinal, also via decision.
