BJJ SAARBRÜCKEN: PEOPLE WANT TO LEARN HOW I'VE ACHIEVED ALL THIS

 

“I’m from Adelaide Australia.” “Im 30 years old now, started jiu jitsu about 14 years ago under my cousin Matt Jones.  I competed a little bit in the early days but not until 2013 did I start training every day and competing regularly. When I got my purple belt I travelled to the States and competed in the Pans. It was more of a holiday than a training trip. Hunter Ewald tapped me in maybe 20 seconds. So suffering that loss was a turning point for me and drove me to train hard.”

And Jones truly does train hard. I was interested in learning what goes on in a day in the life of an elite competitor like Craig Jones.

I used to work at a liquor store but I gave that up to teach full time. The future will be heavily focused on more instructional footage. I think the demand is huge for me right because I come from no where and have beaten some legends. A lot of people can relate to my situation and want to learn how I was able to accomplish that. 

I THINK THE DEMAND IS HUGE FOR ME BECAUSE I COME FROM NO WHERE AND HAVE BEATEN SOME LEGENDS. A LOT OF PEOPLE CAN RELATE TO MY SITUATION AND WANT TO LEARN HOW I WAS ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THAT.

So full time competition and teaching, just not teaching every day.

Since ADCC I’ve really just been on the road teaching and haven’t actually trained all that much, but from 2018 I start training hard twice a day. I think I just train a bit less than most people. I like to feel fresh for every training session and motivated to train. Some guys run their bodies into the ground which leads to injury and illness.

I also think the guys that are training maybe 20 hard rounds a day spend the rounds getting to one good position and then resting, they do this because they need to not burn too much energy because they have to survive the rest of the training session. This translates to the Comp and you see guys fight hard for one position and then rest.  I use shorter duration. A lot of big gyms I’ve visited will go hard for 2 hours straight. I’m just hitting short 1 hour sessions.  I prefer coming in fresh and trying a bunch of different stuff, which I think leads my game to be very exciting for people to watch and leads to a lot of submission wins.

For someone who hadn't trained until this point with the Danaher Death Squad, Craig Jones’ heel hooks were always on a much higher level than most mortals in the jiu-jitsu world. I was curious about how precisely he picked up such a formidable arsenal of heel hook entries, and his answer did not disappoint.

YouTube. I mean all the footage you need is out there to understand all the basic positions for leg locks. Then just having a couple like minded people to experiment with.

Once you’ve built that up, then you’re free to experiment with your own entries. Obviously some of the subtleties are going to be harder to pick up, but the information is there. I spent a lot of time not just studying the famous guys like Gordon, Garry, and Cummings, but studying guys like Oliver Taza, Ethan Crelinsten, Jason Rau, and Matthew Tesla. I do this because guys like Cummings will lock a position down and tap a guy very quick, meaning you gather less information.

The up and coming guys have the finishing mechanics and the entries but usually not to the same level, so you see a bit more of an exchange with their opponent and you can glean a bit more information from them.

Stepping on the mat with the greats of the sport can be intimidating for many.  Craig Jones was a purple belt in 2015.  In 2017 he positioned himself at the forefront of the sport. I was interested to learn what kind of mindset Jones has going into his matches.

I think just self belief. You gotta trust your training and believe you can beat any of these elite guys. Everyone is human. Just remember guys worse than you have tapped out guys better than your opponent, that’s what I try to remember.

BJJ SAARBRÜCKEN CASA DE LUTA FIGHTKLUB: BJJ Saarbrücken | Casa De Luta Fightklub (bjjsaarbruecken.de)