Craig Jones vs. Gable Stevenson is off.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) vs. wrestling super-fight was supposed to headline CJI 2, with promoter Craig Jones competing in his own event against the Olympic gold medalist in Gable Stevenson. Unfortunately, the match has been cancelled just days before the highly anticipated annual BJJ event on August 30-31, 2025.
Gable Stevenson pulls out of CJI 2 match up with Craig Jones due to injured toe
“Bad news coming,” Craig Jones wrote on his Instagram stories. “Gable out. Sorry guys.”
Gable Stevenson apparently cited a toe injury as the reason
for pulling out of CJI 2, which Jones of course also took jabs at.
Jones quoted Dan Gable, the legendary wrestler Stevenson was named after.
“‘Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy,’ Jones quoted. “…except a hangnail”
The bout against Stevenson was also supposed to be Jones’ final match, as he is looking to retire from BJJ competition and leave B-Team. No word just yet if Jones will try to find a replacement for Stevenson, but CJI 2 is just five days away when this news broke.
While Jones vs. Stevenson held the main event spot, CJI 2’s main draw is the stacked $1,000,000 team tournament.
Was CJI sabotaged by the UFC? CJI employee raises conspiracy theory
It’s worth noting that while Gable Stevenson has pulled out of the August 31 event, he also has his MMA debut set to happen just 12 days after CJI 2. That MMA fight was booked on short notice, with Stevenson signing on to compete for LFA just last week.
“Hope his toe miraculously heals,” Craig Jones wrote on Instagram.
A CJI commentator and personality also took it a step further, offering a conspiracy theory that implies the UFC could’ve been involved in this.
“It’s a sad thing when a lad can’t keep his word,” Alex Wendling, who works for CJI, wrote on Instagram. “Very interesting timing to get an MMA offer from recent ‘playful rival’ UFC’s feeder promotion.”
Craig Jones has been taking aim at the UFC in recent months, as their grappling arm “UFC BJJ” looks to sign more athletes to what he calls “exploitative” exclusive deals. UFC BJJ’s recent rebrand also involved changing things to imitate CJI’s pit and ruleset.
Jones also claims that he declined UFC’s offers to compete exclusively for the promotion, and recently pointed out UFC’s pettiness in this on-going rivalry.
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