During a recent podcast appearance, Owen Jones opened up about the pivotal behind-the-scenes support he received from Craig Jones in the lead-up to the ADCC:
I was still living in the gym, and in the back of the gym.
I was like: “I want to go train at B Team, I want to go train somewhere before ADCC, and it’s like, I can’t afford to fly and rent an Airbnb, you know?”
Owen described landing at the airport under stressful circumstances, unsure of how he’d even reach his lodging:
I’m, like, panicking, my phone’s on 2% battery…
I’m like: “I don’t even know what the Airbnb is, I don’t have a charger.”
That’s when Craig Jones appeared, waiting for him at the airport to ensure everything went smoothly:
People are doing things for people all the time in this sport…
I would hope that I would do that for someone, you know, later in my future life.
Owen revealed during the same podcast that he’s relocating to Atlanta soon, following his Who’s Number One match against Julian Espinosa:
After Who’s Number One, there might be another match, nothing’s confirmed yet, but there might be a match between Who’s Number One and the end of April.
Then I’ll go home for like a week, maybe two weeks, and then I’ll come back to Atlanta and I’ll stay there for three, four months until July.
On his approach to improving, Owen stressed the importance of mindset in training:
I think not caring is a good thing in general.
I think even in Jiu-Jitsu this is an important thing to get better – if you don’t care about getting better and like how to get better, but if you care about getting tapped or you care about winning rounds, this is also what stagnates growth.
Sloth Jiu-Jitsu: you can be slow and unathletic and still kick butt in Jiu-Jitsu.
