Coach Craig Jones is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt, Polaris Middleweight Champion and IBJJF No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Purple Belt World Champion. In 2017 he shocked the world at ADCC by submitting 5-time World Champion Leandro Lo, BJJ legend Murilo Santana and UFC legend Chael Sonnen. His 2017 submission of Lo earned him Flograppling’s “Biggest Shocker of the Year” award and his other performances earned him the “Breakthrough Grappler of the Year Award”. In 2018 he defeated MMA and grappling legend Jake Shields within minutes to claim the Polaris Middleweight Championship. He is a two-time ADCC Worlds Qualifier, NAGA World Champion, 4-time Pan-Pacific Champion, 6-time Australian Champion and 9-time State Champion. Outside of Jiu Jitsu Craig has also completed his Bachelors in Behavioural Science (Psychology). Read on to find out more about Craig, also known as Kreg!
Nicknames & Fight Names?
No nicknames. (How do people refer to you?) Professor Jones.
What would you consider your greatest achievements in Martial Arts?
Submitting Lachlan Giles at the MA1 challenge in 2018.
What made you start martial arts?
Watching martial arts movies, and then progressing into watching UFC events. (What was the first martial arts movie you were really inspired by?) Shit…Any Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon, but I’m partial to Steven Seagal, some Van Damme… (Bruce Lee’s good at striking, Steven Seagal…was it really Steven Seagal that was your idol?) Bruce lee would pull guard if given the choice.
How did you first get involved with Absolute MMA?
I was doing training camps out here, and then I just never left.
What industry were you in prior to Martial Arts?
I worked at Hungry Jacks, I worked at the casino, and I worked at a bottle shop selling alcohol.
Favourite workout/walkout music?
Men at Work.
Mantra/Quote to live by?
I don’t have any quotes hey, nothing. (You just like moving in random directions?) I was trying to think of something, hey. (How do you deal with adverse situations?) To get me through tough times? I try not to think about it, really. (A man of action hey?) Yeah, I try not to think about it.
Tell us about your life growing up?
Pretty normal life growing up in Adelaide, in the suburbs, south of the city, Flagstaff Hill. Pretty basic. Nothing exciting really.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Hopefully not competing at the time, hopefully I don’t even have to teach Jiu-Jitsu to make money, I can just teach because I enjoy it. That’s if I still enjoy it in that way. Hopefully I haven’t done enough damage to my body in these years, that I can still enjoy myself when I’m older.
Who is an inspiration to you, and why?
I don’t know, you know what’s f**ked up is the better you get, the more famous people you meet that probably once inspired you, you learn too much about them…don’t meet your heroes. I thought I was a bad guy until I met some of these guys.
If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
What are those things called behind the desk there…those *points*(Blondies.) Yeah, blondies!
If you weren’t working in the Martial Arts industry, what would you be doing?
I have no idea hey, no idea…hopefully I would be working, but I don’t know, probably a sh*tty job. I was doing a psychology degree, maybe that would have panned out. (Did you finish your degree?) The Bachelors, yeah. Which has left me with a HECs debt, and nothing to do with it.
What do you like to do to relax besides training?
As a professional athlete…I think I’ve turned into a bit of a psychopath, I’ve been watching a lot of true crime shows lately. That’s been concerning me.
If you were going to be an animal, what would you be and why?
Sh*t, I don’t even know, hey! If I was going to be an animal…hopefully nothing hunted by anything.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself!
I’ve caught staph five times this year.
What is your favourite travel destination? Why?
Kazakhstan, nothing’s beaten Kazakhstan yet, for reasons I can’t say on video/camera.
What were some funny/interesting/weird hobbies you had when you were a teenager?
Videos games, AFL football and I played basketball.
Can you think of a common inspirational quote that you completely disagree with and why?
I try not to read inspirational quotes. I see too many of them on Instagram. If I see you posting too many of them, you’re getting unfollowed for sure.
Besides martial arts, what else are you passionate about?
I’m passionately following the Trump Mueller report and investigation.
Who are the kind of people that you look up to and why?
Anyone that accomplishes anything, really. I look up to people that don’t have to work a standard 9-5 to…you know what I mean? If they have a non-traditional way of making income. And I guess if ultimately, it does pan out for them. People who can pull that off.
Do you have a “useless” talent that makes people smile every time you use it?
No magic tricks, I can balance on my toes like a ballerina.
When was the last time you did something new for the first time and what was it?
I recently went scuba diving, and I’m about to go zip-lining, but I’m terrified of heights.
What’s your favourite music genre and musicians? Why do you enjoy their music?
I’ve been listening to a lot of classic hits, 60s, 70s, 80s, anything iconic. Anything from that era, it’s usually out of hip hop from today, or that.
Is there a book you’ve read that has influenced your outlook on life or the way you approach certain situations or people?
I don’t know if I’ve had a single book that has influenced my life…(Have you read a book?) I’ve just read James Comey’s book, I read that book “Tribe”. I’m reading a book right now, the guy was on Rogan. It’s a tiny book so I shouldn’t brag about it, but now I’m reading about Hitler’s drug use.
If you could go back in time to your first martial art class, what would be the advice you give to your past self?
I don’t even remember doing my first BJJ class. (Did you do any martial arts before BJJ?) I was a yellow belt in TKD, and I did Judo as well. (What age?) I can’t even remember hey, my memory…I did it pretty young. Year 5 or 6. I think I did TKD younger than that.
During a Absolute MMA staff retreat a zombie apocalypse breaks out. You get separated with 3 AMMA team members. Who would be part your dream team and why?
Whoever gets staph the most, because I reckon we’ll blend in with the zombies. Lachlan Giles…so he’s on the team, who else….um who else gets staph a lot…f**k I get taken down with it a lot. (Raph used to get staph a lot, we used to call him the French zombie). Really? See it’s the guys who work hard.
“Craig Jones put Australia and Absolute on the BJJ map. We all know how good he is, so let’s not talk about it any more. He gives everyone a lot of crap, but he can take it too. I’m also very proud that I’m better at pointing my feet than him.”- Livia Giles
“My brother Craig shocked us all when he finally made it to the big time in the Jiu Jitsu world. As a younger man he dabbled in Aussie rules football and basketball but really found his calling after completing a modelling course through the Tanya Powell model agency, after some experience down the cat walk he found his true calling and that is his love of being the centre of attention. After years of bullying about being a young male with a dream of making it in modelling he started training Jiu Jitsu for self defence and the rest is history.”- Adam Jones
“Craig has always been super talented and I am really happy to see all his hard work pay off. That being said, he is a jerk and I really hope he has an embarrassing loss soon.”- Lachlan Warne
“Craig is the mean bully of an older brother I never had. He’ll wipe the floor with you, teach you how he did it and how to stop it and then do it to you again anyway. I sure hope Rumble hasn’t forgotten how to throw that overhand right.”- Oliver Smith
“I remember first meeting Craig when him and his soulmate Tom Everett were lifting weights in Collingwood in true meathead fashion. It was a chance encounter that allowed me to befriend and coach two truly stellar gentlemen. Craig’s drive and work ethic is second to none. People often speak of him like he’s some overnight phenom in grappling, but that has always bothered me, because it discounts the work and time he has put in, to becoming one of the best grapplers on the planet. He’s spent over a decade of grappling, refining his skills, forging his own ideas, his own techniques, putting in the hours on the mat and in the gym. Truly one of the most interesting people I’ve met, and someone I’m lucky to call a friend, as well as train. On top of all of that, he’s probably the strongest bicep curler on the planet.”- Amit Narayan
“Craig would have to be the most widely misunderstood grappler of our time. Humble, friendly, hard working, positive. These are just some of the ludicrous misconceptions thrown forward by perhaps the hardest working PR team in history. He is in fact Satan himself.”- Tom Everett
