Ben Kovacs, general manager of FloGrappling and founder of the Guardian Jiu-Jitsu Foundation, didn’t shy away from discussing the fallout of the 2024 Craig Jones Invitational and its ripple effects on both ADCC and his own platform.
Here is what he had to say in a recent episode of the Jits and Giggles podcast:
Speaking candidly, what happened in 2024 with CJI and ADCC was horrible for Flo, right? And for ADCC that year, right?
I mean, CJI 1 obviously pulled a lot of athletes away from ADCC. This was well before I joined Flo, to be clear. I wasn’t around during that time.
But yeah, there’s no doubt that that was like a hugely painful time where it made it more difficult for ADCC and more difficult for Flo as the streaming partner of the event.
Kovacs pointed to a lasting shift in athlete pay expectations as one of the more persistent effects, after Jones paid competitors well above market rate and many never adjusted their expectations afterward:
It works like a ratchet where they got paid this money one time and now they’re like, this is my new price.
Well, dude, I did like a one time, two time charity event.
And I paid obviously way more money than I needed to, to get you to compete, to kind of make a point.
Don’t hold that against me and don’t be difficult to work with for all these other companies.
He also noted that gratitude hasn’t always matched the financial gain:
I definitely don’t think that everyone is maybe as appreciative of it as he thought they would be, or remembers that long term.
Short memories, and they get that money and then they’re like, great, when’s the next event, you know?
Even with the disruption, Kovacs gave Jones credit for expanding the sport’s visibility well beyond its usual audience:
Craig’s unique, and he’s done a lot of things. I guess the thing that he’s done right is he’s brought just a lot of attention, including sort of outside attention, onto the sport.
He starts a lot of conversations. He keeps the attention on the sport.
So I think that’s probably his superpower, the promotional side of what he does.
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