BJJ Craig Jones vs. Gable Steveson at CJI 2

[ChickenBrother]

I was pretty sure this was an April Fool's joke but it sounds like this is legit happening. Huge crossover superfight and CJI set some high expectations last year. No way in hell Steveson beats Jones under sub only rules but this should be an exciting match either way.

Craig Jones To Face Olympic Champion Gable Steveson In CJI 2 Superfight - Jitsmagazine.com

Craig Jones has just announced that he will be facing Olympic wrestling champion Gable Steveson in an incredible superfight at CJI 2.

jitsmagazine.com

 

[RemyR]

 

[kintana]

Craig should have the advantage being that he is a top level grappler but I think if Gable can avoid the legs of Craig he can win.

Gable is another level of athlete and probably the most decorated wrestler we have seen in a grappling match. His size and ability to move might pose a different challenge for Craig.

The way I see this fight going is Craig will pull some sort of guard looking to enter Z or Half Guard, if Gable worked on his passing and can just keep Craig's legs away from his he can do a good job.

I saw Craig train at Team Nogueria Dubai against a top iranian wrestler who was at least 107 KG. When he did get past craig's guard his weight gave craig problems.

I think Gable can do the same.

That being said I still say Craig takes it depending on how well prepared Gable Stevenson is. And as Craig says he does not take matches he cannot win

 

[The Apostle]

It sure would be cool if Gable could give Craig a bit of a run for his money. For a while at least and I’m not talking Brendan Schaub style either. There was some footage of Gable training with Jon Jones and Nicky Ryan’s brother a couple months ago.

 

[RemyR]

I'm thinking Craig leg locks him

 

[kintana]

It sure would be cool if Gable could give Craig a bit of a run for his money. For a while at least and I’m not talking Brendan Schaub style either. There was some footage of Gable training with Jon Jones and Nicky Ryan’s brother a couple months ago.

It would be great if Nicky Ryan's brother could train Gable to beat Craig

 

[ChickenBrother]

Craig should have the advantage being that he is a top level grappler but I think if Gable can avoid the legs of Craig he can win.

Gable is another level of athlete and probably the most decorated wrestler we have seen in a grappling match. His size and ability to move might pose a different challenge for Craig.

The way I see this fight going is Craig will pull some sort of guard looking to enter Z or Half Guard, if Gable worked on his passing and can just keep Craig's legs away from his he can do a good job.

I saw Craig train at Team Nogueria Dubai against a top iranian wrestler who was at least 107 KG. When he did get past craig's guard his weight gave craig problems.

I think Gable can do the same.

That being said I still say Craig takes it depending on how well prepared Gable Stevenson is. And as Craig says he does not take matches he cannot win

It sure would be cool if Gable could give Craig a bit of a run for his money. For a while at least and I’m not talking Brendan Schaub style either. There was some footage of Gable training with Jon Jones and Nicky Ryan’s brother a couple months ago.

I'm thinking Craig leg locks him

I think the best outcome would be something like Ruotolo vs. Nolf at last year's CJI. That was exciting because Ruotolo kept going for TDs and refused to pull guard. But of course that was like Mayweather "carrying" McG for 9 rounds in a different sport. A high level wrestler like Steveson or Nolf can takedown their BJJ counterpart at will but they have to be tentative because they're vulnerable to subs on the ground. After the match Nolf said his gameplan had been to avoid the ground until 2 min before the rounds ended to deny Ruotolo enough time to work.

But Steveson has a huge weight advantage over Craig. I can see this playing out like Mir vs. Lesnar 1 without the hammer fists.

 

[Foppa21]

It would be great if Nicky Ryan's brother could train Gable to beat Craig

A Ryan in each corner would be interesting

 

[Foppa21]

I think the best outcome would be something like Ruotolo vs. Nolf at last year's CJI. That was exciting because Ruotolo kept going for TDs and refused to pull guard. But of course that was like Mayweather "carrying" McG for 9 rounds in a different sport. A high level wrestler like Steveson or Nolf can takedown their BJJ counterpart at will but they have to be tentative because they're vulnerable to subs on the ground. After the match Nolf said his gameplan had been to avoid the ground until 2 min before the rounds ended to deny Ruotolo enough time to work.

But Steveson has a huge weight advantage over Craig. I can see this playing out like Mir vs. Lesnar 1 without the hammer fists.

I doubt has any thoughts of standing up with Steveson for any period of time. He's going to slide down that wall on his butt and keep going. He ain't going to tempt fate and get dumped on his head

 

[TheMoa]

Although Craig got famous for his leg lock game, he got great all around.
I think his major problem would be stamina, all that nose beers and partying all over the world... Maybe he'll get on a EPO cicle to mitigate it hahahaha

If Im Gabe I'm taking him down and burning time on top tiring him out without taking many risks.

 

[ChickenBrother]

I doubt has any thoughts of standing up with Steveson for any period of time. He's going to slide down that wall on his butt and keep going. He ain't going to tempt fate and get dumped on his head

Agree. A potential equalizer here will be Steveson's size and that unlike under NCAA and USA Wrestling, he won't even have to pretend to pass PED testing. If indeed he's walking away from wrestling in favor of BJJ/MMA, will be interesting to see how seriously he takes this and what kind of physique he'll be rocking. It's also possible he just phones it in like McKenzie Dern/Luke Rockhold/Gabi Garcia did at last year's CJI.

 

[Foppa21]

Agree. A potential equalizer here will be Steveson's size and that unlike under NCAA and USA Wrestling, he won't even have to pretend to pass PED testing. If indeed he's walking away from wrestling in favor of BJJ/MMA, will be interesting to see how seriously he takes this and what kind of physique he'll be rocking. It's also possible he just phones it in like McKenzie Dern/Luke Rockhold/Gabi Garcia did at last year's CJI.

Has he nixed any chance of going back to the Olympics? Even if he had, I wouldn't rule it out completely..... I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be at this years NCAAs either..

He won't do BJJ full time, there's no way that he'll get paid enough to do so. Any other athletic endeavour will require him to be natty, so I think on the balance, he'll be clean

 

[kintana]

Has he nixed any chance of going back to the Olympics? Even if he had, I wouldn't rule it out completely..... I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be at this years NCAAs either..

He won't do BJJ full time, there's no way that he'll get paid enough to do so. Any other athletic endeavour will require him to be natty, so I think on the balance, he'll be clean

Very likely he will be clean but not guaranteed. I am not sure he will go back to the Olympics it seems he is looking for the next long term opportunity and the Olympics for Gable will only be maybe 1 or 2 more runs.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Has he nixed any chance of going back to the Olympics? Even if he had, I wouldn't rule it out completely..... I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be at this years NCAAs either..

He won't do BJJ full time, there's no way that he'll get paid enough to do so. Any other athletic endeavour will require him to be natty, so I think on the balance, he'll be clean

His NCAA eligibility was straight forward because everyone who competed during the COVID lockdown season was allowed an extra year of eligibility and Steveson was taking an Olympic redshirt year anyway.

There's much speculation around Steveson's intentions and he's been all over the place, but dude has made it clear he likes being a star and wants to get paid. He officially "retired" from amateur wrestling when he left his shoes on the mat after winning the 2022 D1 nationals but then in 2023 he entered and won both the U.S. Open and Final X, earning a spot on the 2023 World Team, but chose not to compete at Worlds.

He then skipped the qualifier for the 2024 Olympics while doing development matches for the WWE which ended with him being cut. He then signed with the Buffalo Bills of the NFL but was released. Then he decided to use his final year of NCAA eligibility for seemingly no reason than he was bored and wanted to generate some buzz around his name. For those not familiar with wrestling, folkstyle (scholastic) college wrestling is significantly different from freestyle wrestling and being the best in the world at both requires specialized training in each ruleset.

To wrestling purists, Steveson is a WTF. Dude is a special athlete and could have been the first 5 x Olympic gold medalist in freestyle.

 

[Foppa21]

His NCAA eligibility was straight forward because everyone who competed during the COVID lockdown season was allowed an extra year of eligibility and Steveson was taking an Olympic redshirt year anyway.

There's much speculation around Steveson's intentions and he's been all over the place, but dude has made it clear he likes being a star and wants to get paid. He officially "retired" from amateur wrestling when he left his shoes on the mat after winning the 2022 D1 nationals but then in 2023 he entered and won both the U.S. Open and Final X, earning a spot on the 2023 World Team, but chose not to compete at Worlds.

He skipped the qualifier for the 2024 Olympics while doing development matches for the WWE which ended with him being cut. He then signed with the Buffalo Bills of the NFL but was released. Then he decided to use his final year of NCAA eligibility for seemingly no reason than he was bored and wanted to generate some buzz around his name. For those not familiar with wrestling, folkstyle (scholastic) college wrestling is significantly different from freestyle wrestling and being the best in the world at both requires specialized training in each ruleset.

To wrestling purists, Steveson is a WTF. Dude is a special athlete and could have been the first 5 x Olympic gold medalist in freestyle.

Thanks for the insight. I don't follow wrestling. Like I said, I was surprised he was at the NCAAs, just because I thought he'd retired and I since he'd been out for what feels like a few years, I just assumed he was out of years.

Word is, while physically talented, he's not as good as he thinks he is in the other aspects required and that leads to attitude issues. Like no doubt, he could move in the WWE, but he's still got to build a character which arguably is the bigger piece for them. Didn't/couldn't put in the time to learn the craft.

I get him not wanting to stay in the Olympic program though... There's likely no money there for him to do so. But he's actually got to put in the time into something that can generate him the income.

 

[ChickenBrother]

Thanks for the insight. I don't follow wrestling. Like I said, I was surprised he was at the NCAAs, just because I thought he'd retired and I since he'd been out for what feels like a few years, I just assumed he was out of years.

Word is, while physically talented, he's not as good as he thinks he is in the other aspects required and that leads to attitude issues. Like no doubt, he could move in the WWE, but he's still got to build a character which arguably is the bigger piece for them. Didn't/couldn't put in the time to learn the craft.

I get him not wanting to stay in the Olympic program though... There's likely no money there for him to do so. But he's actually got to put in the time into something that can generate him the income.

If he were so inclined, I think Steveson is one of the few amateur wrestlers who could make a decent living from social media and sponsorships while competing full time in wrestling. And whenever he felt like hanging up his singlet for real, he'd be a lock for a head coaching job at any top college, where he'd get a decent (but far from rockstar) level salary.

But I don't think he wants to stay on that grind. He'd rather be a showman and get paid but I don't think he has the personality or mic skills to be a star in the WWE or the like.

Here's his final WWE match that got him cut. Bear in mind this was after having more than 2 years to learn the craft, develop a gimmick, etc. And this was after his debut match that also had the crowd hilariously rooting for his heel opponent and booing or ignoring Steveson who was being put over as a face.



Also worth mentioning that Steveson trained with Jon Jones for the Miocic fight. Dude is only 24 and is a crazy talented athlete but I think it's more likely he boxes Jake Paul or some shit than does another Olympics.

 

[Foppa21]

If he were so inclined, I think Steveson is one of the few amateur wrestlers who could make a decent living from social media and sponsorships while competing full time in wrestling. And whenever he felt like hanging up his singlet for real, he'd be a lock for a head coaching job at any top college, where he'd get a decent (but far from rockstar) level salary.

But I don't think he wants to stay on that grind. He'd rather be a showman and get paid but he's not a showman at the level required to be a star in the WWE or the like.

Here's his final WWE match that got him cut. This was after his debut match that also had the crowd hilariously cheering for his heel opponent and booing or showing ambivalence toward Steveson.



Also worth mentioning that Steveson trained with Jon Jones for the Miocic fight. Dude is only 24 and is a crazy talented athlete but I think it's more likely he boxes Jake Paul or some shit than does another Olympics.

I think he just has to make a choice and no necessarily expect to get top $$$$ until until he gets some runs on the board

 

[randomg1t]

Although Craig got famous for his leg lock game, he got great all around.
I think his major problem would be stamina, all that nose beers and partying all over the world... Maybe he'll get on a EPO cicle to mitigate it hahahaha

If Im Gabe I'm taking him down and burning time on top tiring him out without taking many risks.

i know steveson is a beast, but i'm not sure you can really get on top of someone like craig and burn time without risking anything... not unless you have world class jiu jitsu anyway.

craig's game is pretty incredible, unless gable tries to schaub him and refuses to engage in any way, i think he's getting submitted pretty quickly.

 

[shunyata]

I wish Craig would treat this like ONE's Rodtang vs DJ match.

1 round of sub grappling rules

1 round of freestyle wrestling rules

1 round of MMA

 

[yetanother]

Has he nixed any chance of going back to the Olympics? Even if he had, I wouldn't rule it out completely..... I'm pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be at this years NCAAs either..

He won't do BJJ full time, there's no way that he'll get paid enough to do so. Any other athletic endeavour will require him to be natty, so I think on the balance, he'll be clean

Let's not even pretend heavyweights at the olympics or in MMA are natty.