In a recent appearance on the podcast On Borrowed Time, Craig Jones spoke openly about PEDs in jiu-jitsu, stressing that his position is not about promoting drug use – but about advocating for safety, honesty, and transparency:

I’m not encouraging ster*ids, I’m encouraging safe ster*id use.

When there’s a gray area and young upcoming athletes are under the assumption that all athletes in the sports are using, I just want to let people know what I am on.

Jones, known for his unfiltered takes, made it clear that his own PED regimen is relatively moderate.
By sharing his experience, he hopes to discourage young grapplers from going down a reckless path:

I wanted to emphasize to the youth that if you’re going to do it, I’m operating on the assumption that the kids that are out there that are going to do it anyway… It’s hard to talk them out of it because they think they need to do it to win in jiu-jitsu competition.

He pointed to fellow Australian grappler Lachlan Giles as proof that clean athletes can still reach the top, but emphasized the importance of responsible decision-making for those who do choose to use:

There are safe ways of doing this. Make sure you get the help you need, make sure you find a responsible qualified person to guide you on this and don’t just talk to the bodybuilder at the local LA Fitness, who’s going to throw you on everything.

Jones also noted a trend he’s seen in athletes who start PEDs – technical decline:

When someone jumps on ster*ids, their technique suffers.

Because you’re a guy that had to rely on technique to be effective in the sport, and then all of a sudden you’ve got this newfound strength and power and you want to flex that strength and power and you start to overly rely on it and it detracts from your technique and it ruins your cardio.

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