Craig Jones Invitational featured some slick finishes and shocking upsets in its inaugural version Friday night time in Las Vegas, setting the desk for Saturday’s semifinal matches within the hunt for 2 $1 million checks on the Thomas and Mack Heart in Las Vegas.
The over 80kg semifinals will see Nicky Rod vs. Adam Bradley and Inacio Santos vs. Fellipe Andrew, and are scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET. The below 80kg semifinals characteristic Levi Jones-Leary vs. Lucas Barbosa and Kade Ruotolo vs. Andrew Tackett.
The heavier grapplers had been the primary to enter the world to compete within the over 80kg division, and Nicky Rod was the star of discipline with a pair of rear-naked chokes towards Max Gimenis and Owen Livesey. His opponent within the semifinal match shall be Adam Bradley, who earned the spot after back-to-back break up choices towards Kyle Boehm and Pat Downey.
Inacio Santos and Fellipe Andrew labored their means on the opposite facet of the bracket with hard-fought victories.
Santos’ first win was a break up determination towards Pedro Alex, and he adopted it up towards one of many surprises of the night time. Lucas Kanard had shocked the jiu-jitsu world in earlier that night time with a 70-second end towards four-time IBJJF world champion Victor Hugo, however had no reply to Santos’ stress from prime place, dropping by way of determination.
Andrew confirmed an aggressive guard towards three-time NCAA All-American Daniel Kerkvliet, combating good to win a choice and transfer to the quarterfinals and face Brazilian heavyweight Joao Gabriel Rocha. A bloody Rocha gave him a tough time, however Andrew’s a number of assaults from the underside earned him the unanimous determination win.
Tye Ruotolo had an ideal begin within the below 80kg class, tapping enhance wrestler Jason Nolf with a kneebar within the third spherical after an electrical contest, and Levi Jones-Leary was subsequent to enter the mat to complete Roberto Jimenez quick with an inside heel hook.
Ruotolo had beat Jones-Leary twice in 2022, however struggled along with his guard this time of their quarterfinal match. Jones-Leary aimed toward his heel throughout the complete match and couldn’t safe a end, however did sufficient to win by way of unanimous determination to advance to the semifinal match towards Lucas Barbosa.
Barbosa kicked off his CJI journey with a lackluster determination win over Kenta Iwamoto and was down within the scorecards with lower than 90 seconds left on the clock versus Jozef Chen earlier than leaping for a brutal knee crush submission that pressured Chen to faucet.
Tye Ruotolo’s brother Kade Ruotolo obtained the job performed on the opposite facet of the bracket, locking a nasty straight ankle lock with seconds left within the opening spherical of his first match to faucet fellow ADCC gold medalist Matheus Diniz. The ONE grappling champion then dominated Tommy Langaker within the quarterfinal match, scoring his third determination victory over Langaker up to now 14 months.
Ruotolo will face Andrew Tackett within the semifinal contest after the younger American displayed an thrilling grappling type in enjoyable matches towards Nicky Ryan and Eoghan O’Flanagan, profitable each matches by way of determination. Like Kade, Andrew advances to the semifinal to maintain the household identify within the operating for a $1 million prize after his brother loses within the over 80kg division.
The motion will proceed Saturday with the semifinal matches in each divisions, plus a pair of superfights that includes jiu-jitsu legend Gabi Garcia taking up CJI chief Craig Jones, and UFC star Mackenzie Dern battling fellow ADCC and IBJJF world champion Ffion Davies.
Click on right here for full Craig Jones Invitational, Day 1 outcomes.