Craig Jones

Craig Jones is an Australian grappler and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Lachlan Giles. He worked extensively with coach John Danaher as a core member of the Danaher Death Squad (DDS) through the late 2010s and early 2020s, then co-founded the B-Team in Austin, Texas in 2021 with former DDS teammates including Nicky Ryan, Ethan Crelinsten, and Nicky Rodriguez.

Born on July 17, 1991 in Adelaide, South Australia, Jones grew up playing Australian rules football and basketball and briefly trained taekwondo and judo. Drawn to mixed martial arts as a teenager, he started BJJ at his cousin Matt Jones’s ISOHEALTH academy in 2006, then moved as a purple belt to Maromba Academy in Melbourne (later Absolute MMA) under Lachlan Giles.

Jones broke out internationally by winning the IBJJF World No-Gi Championship as a purple belt in 2015 and twice winning the ADCC Asia & Oceania Trials (2014, 2016). At the 2017 ADCC World Championships he submitted #1 seed Leandro Lo and reached the podium conversation as one of the sport’s most dangerous open-guard and leg-lock specialists. He later took silver at ADCC in 2019 (88 kg) and 2022 (99 kg).

Beyond the mats, Jones has become one of grappling’s most visible personalities: a prolific instructor (instructionals on BJJ Fanatics and his own platforms), founder of the high-purse Craig Jones Invitational (CJI), and a central figure in modern no-gi culture. His competition style is known for open guard, inside heel hooks, and a high submission rate across promotions such as Polaris, WNO, Submission Underground, and Quintet.