Craig Jones, a 2x ADCC silver medalist, is considered one of the top grapplers globally. He had an interesting discussion with Sean Strickland, a former UFC middleweight titleholder.
Jones was observing UFC 296 in Las Vegas last December when, by his account, Strickland was seated nearby disparaging Brazilian jiu-jitsu. According to Jones, Strickland proceeded to criticize jiu-jitsu on a live stream on Instagram before turning the camera toward Jones. As an Australian practitioner, Jones remains uncertain whether Strickland was aware of his identity and accomplishments in the sport or if their encounter was merely coincidental.
Jones said on The MMA Hour:
“Oh ya, man, you know what this guy did to me actually? I was at the UFC event, sitting next to him when he attacked Dricus, Strickland obviously no idea who I am, it was the Tony Ferguson-Paddy Pimblett fight, he’s sitting next to me, he goes live on Instagram and he’s just shitting on Tony Ferguson’s jiu-jitsu and then it turns into a rant about how jiu-jitsu is useless for MMA, and all this stuff and then he pans the camera to me. He’s like look, look how shit jiu-jitsu is. He goes over to Volk as well. And I was like, either this guy is a f*****g genius or this is just off the cuff and he doesn’t know I’m a jiu-jitsu guy. But that guy is f*****g unhinged.”
Ariel Helwani asked Craig Jones if he agrees with Sean Strickland’s comments, he was quick to reply saying he’s probably right:
“I told him I agreed with him. I said, ‘Yeah, you’re probably right.”
Watch here:
Craig Jones talks Sean Strickland.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/b9Yoo0Ab3j
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) February 12, 2024
