Craig Jones has spoken out to clear the air on the judging controversy that overshadowed the conclusion of CJI 2.

While the event itself was packed with thrilling matches between some of the sport’s top competitors, the final clash between B-Team Jiu-Jitsu and New Wave Jiu-Jitsu left the crowd divided when the judges’ scorecards were revealed.

The deciding match was razor-close. When the bout went to the scorecards, all three judges ruled it 47–47, triggering the tournament’s tiebreaker rule.
That meant the result of the last match determined the overall winner, and Nicky Rodriguez secured the title for B-Team.

The decision sparked visible confusion among New Wave athletes, and Gordon Ryan went so far as to accuse the event of bias.

Jones wasted no time in responding directly:

First and foremost, there was no bias shown in the leadup to the event whatsoever. The wildcards… I had one team complaining about a wildcard, two wildcards, things like that

Guys, if I was going to be biased against my former team, DDS / New Wave, I would not have given them Mica Galvao.
I gave them Mica Galvao; who, in my opinion, is the number one grappler in the world.

If I had any stake in a personal hatred for them and I was invested in them losing this event, I would not have given them Mica Galvao.
I want to make that abundantly clear.

Jones pointed out that accusations of favoritism weren’t limited to New Wave.
He revealed that other teams raised concerns about the wildcard system as well:

They did complain about ATOS receiving two wildcards, so what did I do?
Gave everyone two wildcards.

Which team then took a second wildcard, Vagner Rocha?

Another sticking point was the tournament brackets.

Some argued ATOS and New Wave should have been seeded on opposite sides, but Jones explained why he intentionally placed them together – and how he tried to balance things out for fairness:

Now to explain the brackets, which some people complained about.

Two teams in the entire tournament had two wildcards, ATOS and New Wave.
So it was in my opinion the most fair option to put them on the same side of the bracket.

What did I do in return for that? Well I asked John Danaher who the fourth seed was.
In my opinion it would have been (Australasia) or Daisy Fresh.

John gave a summary of each and he thought Daisy Fresh was the fourth seed.
Instead of putting Daisy Fresh in the bottom position, I gave B-Team first round who John Danaher thought was perceived fourth seed.

Finally, Jones broke down the judging criteria itself, clarifying why B-Team took the overall win despite winning fewer individual matches:

The 10-point must system rewards dominance and submission attempts.

We use that so it’s not just match one, match two, match three, win to that team.
We don’t want people to coast to victory. We want to reward people for trying to dominate and finish their opponents, right?

Everyone’s confused because they were like: “Wait a minute. If we go to the final, New Wave won three matches, B-Team won two.”

Well guess what?
In a UFC title-fight, you can win three rounds and still lose the fight.

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