Craig Jones Invitational featured some slick finishes and surprising upsets in its inaugural edition Friday night in Las Vegas, setting the table for Saturday’s semifinal matches in the hunt for two $1 million checks at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The over 80kg semifinals will see Nicky Rod vs. Adam Bradley and Inacio Santos vs. Fellipe Andrew, and are scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET. The under 80kg semifinals feature Levi Jones-Leary vs. Lucas Barbosa and Kade Ruotolo vs. Andrew Tackett.
The heavier grapplers were the first to enter the arena to compete in the over 80kg division, and Nicky Rod was the star of field with a pair of rear-naked chokes against Max Gimenis and Owen Livesey. His opponent in the semifinal match will be Adam Bradley, who earned the spot after back-to-back split decisions against Kyle Boehm and Pat Downey.
Inacio Santos and Fellipe Andrew worked their way on the other side of the bracket with hard-fought victories.
Santos’ first win was a split decision against Pedro Alex, and he followed it up against one of the surprises of the night. Lucas Kanard had shocked the jiu-jitsu world in earlier that night with a 70-second finish against four-time IBJJF world champion Victor Hugo, but had no answer to Santos’ pressure from top position, losing via decision.
Andrew showed an aggressive guard against three-time NCAA All-American Daniel Kerkvliet, fighting smart to win a decision and move to the quarterfinals and face Brazilian heavyweight Joao Gabriel Rocha. A bloody Rocha gave him a hard time, but Andrew’s multiple attacks from the bottom earned him the unanimous decision win.
Tye Ruotolo had a great start in the under 80kg category, tapping decorate wrestler Jason Nolf with a kneebar in the third round after an electric contest, and Levi Jones-Leary was next to enter the mat to finish Roberto Jimenez fast with an inside heel hook.
Ruotolo had beat Jones-Leary twice in 2022, but struggled with his guard this time in their quarterfinal match. Jones-Leary aimed at his heel during the entire match and couldn’t secure a finish, but did enough to win via unanimous decision to advance to the semifinal match against Lucas Barbosa.
Barbosa kicked off his CJI journey with a lackluster decision win over Kenta Iwamoto and was down in the scorecards with less than 90 seconds left on the clock versus Jozef Chen before jumping for a brutal knee crush submission that forced Chen to tap.
Tye Ruotolo’s brother Kade Ruotolo got the job done on the other side of the bracket, locking a nasty straight ankle lock with seconds left in the opening round of his first match to tap fellow ADCC gold medalist Matheus Diniz. The ONE grappling champion then dominated Tommy Langaker in the quarterfinal match, scoring his third decision victory over Langaker in the past 14 months.
Ruotolo will face Andrew Tackett in the semifinal contest after the young American displayed an exciting grappling style in fun matches against Nicky Ryan and Eoghan O’Flanagan, winning both matches via decision. Like Kade, Andrew advances to the semifinal to keep the family name in the running for a $1 million prize after his brother loses in the over 80kg division.
The action will continue Saturday with the semifinal matches in both divisions, plus a pair of superfights featuring jiu-jitsu legend Gabi Garcia taking on CJI leader Craig Jones, and UFC star Mackenzie Dern battling fellow ADCC and IBJJF world champion Ffion Davies.
Click here for complete Craig Jones Invitational, Day 1 results.
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