Craig Jones: Grappling, Geopolitics, and Guerrilla Marketing in Ukraine

This episode features Craig Jones, a renowned martial artist and submission grappler, known for his unique blend of humor, online trolling, and legitimate skill. The conversation delves into his latest venture, the CJI tournament, which boasts a $2 million prize pool and aims to grow the sport of grappling, notably coinciding with the prestigious ADCC tournament. Jones emphasizes the charitable aspect of CJI, with ticket profits supporting cancer research, and highlights the participation of top athletes in both events. The discussion also touches upon his unconventional marketing tactics, including a memorable appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast with a million dollars in cash, and his audacious promotional stunts for CJI.

The podcast explores Jones's complex relationship with risk, distinguishing his attraction to adventure over inherent danger. This leads into a detailed account of his two recent trips to Ukraine, initially planned as a Jiu-Jitsu seminar for charity. He recounts a perilous experience in Kazakhstan filming a traditional horse game, Kokpar, where he inadvertently found himself amidst violent riders. His journey to Ukraine, driven by a desire for adventure and to experience the conflict firsthand, involved setting up the largest Jiu-Jitsu seminar in Ukrainian history, with proceeds supporting soldiers. He describes visiting the front lines, experiencing air alerts in Kyiv, and witnessing the Patriot defense system's effectiveness against a hypersonic missile, even taking a piece of shrapnel as a souvenir.

Jones further details his second, more intense trip to Ukraine, including a visit to the heavily shelled city of Kherson, where he was escorted by the police chief to within a kilometer of the front line, narrowly escaping an artillery strike. He also recounts a surreal visit to Chernobyl, now a dangerous minefield, highlighting the long-term consequences of war. A significant portion of the conversation is dedicated to his controversial marketing stunt for CJI, involving blowing up a car painted with a rival tournament's logo using an RPG, a dangerous endeavor that almost resulted in injury from friendly fire and ricochets.

Through these experiences, Jones reflects on the morale of Ukrainian soldiers, noting their battle fatigue but also their resilience and dark humor. He observes the prolonged nature of the conflict and the stark reality of conscription, where everyday people are forced into combat. He highlights the soldiers' need to self-fund essential equipment and their use of social media for both fundraising and psychological warfare. The episode underscores the profound impact of witnessing war firsthand, changing his perception of soldiers from distant figures to ordinary individuals driven by an immense sense of obligation to protect their homeland and families, a perspective often alien to those from countries without recent direct conflict on their soil.

"if she wins I'll personally give her a million dollars if I can foot lock her we're going to collaborate together in an only fans sex tape."

"underneath the veil of non-stop sexualized Aussie humor and incessant online trolling he is truly a kind-hearted human being who's trying to do good in the world."

"I'm happy to take a few risks if it's part of of what the locals want me to do."

"I thought you'd want to check it out from the inside and then while we were in there someone picked up the sort of carcass and a wave of horse riders came at me I was quite concerned at that point."

"I can't promise you'll survive but I'll promise you have a good time."

"a Hypersonic missile was shot down by the Patriot event system just like 5 minutes from the hotel so the whole hotel and the uh attached gym just shook like crazy."

"I don't think it'll be a spot for a very long time because if you were thinking about areas to demine when the conflict ends an area where if you accidentally trigger a mine could cause a radiation leag it's probably going to be very low on the list."

"I mean the the sort of the battle fatigue you know and as they say like all the heroes die early you know the guys that the real heroes that are willing to sacrifice themselves they're the ones that are going to get taken out quick unfortunately that's the reality for them over there."