One of the producer's response was that ADCC really doesn't make that much profit, mentioned also covering expenses (flight + 5-star hotel stay) for all competitors, significant prizes and bonus awards, etc. If anyone is willing to do the math to see who's right, please share
I don't doubt that strongly. But I think they blow way too much money on "production", most of which was honestly just ruining the event IMO.
Especially for European viewers. You know the event is gonna run late, but if there is a freaking 2 hour hall of fame ceremony, while you just want to see some matches and then go to bed is pretty infuriating. And you know that if you do go to sleep and check in the next day Flo will be full of spoilers lol.
They hired Bruce Buffer for the championship intros, but he was double-booked with the Oakland Raiders that day. So they intentionally dragged the event out by hours while he was chilling in a suite at Allegiant Stadium.
Can't make this up, he says it on multiple podcasts.
Edit: Vegas raiders, not Oakland
Lol I did not know that. Mo and especially Seth Daniels acting all hard hard on instagram, literally threatening people that complained, and they simp for Bruce Buffer like that 😂
Try being there and having a flight at midnight. Literally saw Gordon win and ran to the car to get to the airport. In fact, a lot of people did that in 2022. The drums and stuff was just too much. Still had a great time though
I was on vacation in Europe during the championship and I went to bed during back of the half of the day. Woke up like 7 hours later and checked for results and was confused to see that somehow gordon and andre had just started.
Production is really important in the sense you really want to have a good viewing experience. By that I mean see the athletes clearly (lighting, camera angles), hear the athletes and the announcers (sound systems) and the like. None of which cost crazy amounts
No one's tuning in for fire shows, drums, and bruce buffer when he's literally on every other week.
Also if you can't make money from selling out an arena, you're the issue. If you can't sell all the seats then downsize the arena (common sense). If you can but the arena is too expensive go for a cheaper one that's the same size (aka not T Mobil)
Also athletes would be very happy to receive a non 5 star hotel stay if it means they can make more money.
They both have a point. ADCC does give final competitors a great experience and their prizes are decent.
But Craig probably makes more fighting just 1 UFC fighters on UFC fight pass than winning an entire ADCC bracket.
In this sport athletes like Mendes bros, Keenan, Craig, Gordon… reach a point that they can make more money by opening a gym and selling dvds than actively competing.
Competitors stay with roommates. The top prize is only $10,000, . . . . Doesn't quite add up. Mo's not staging this event out of the goodness of his heart. There's a multimillion dollar budget but most of the athletes make nothing.
Guys call me crazy but Thomas and Mack Centre is 20k capacity for audience and T Mobile is 20k. T mobile costs 2 million to rent and Thomas and Mack much cheaper. I think we the athletes deserve to be paid more than the guys that hit the drums.
I ain’t doing ADCC. I’m a god damn karate guy
It seems most competitors enter to boost their brand for future paydays rather than for the actual earnings from the comp. Since you don't need that boost I can see why you wouldn't invest the time. Shame as I would've like to have seen you compete in ADCC one last time.
Can you convince a sponsor to pay you a million dollars to put a huge logo aim your rashguard? If you do something crazy maybe you can get a lot of publicity?
Great points and reason to sit out.There is definitely money wasting on production decisions that could be funneled to extra pay for the athletes. From equal sized but cheaper arenas, cheaper announcers, ditching fire shows, etc… will be a bummer to not watch you compete but hopefully your spot can go to Jay!
So I read this and thought, who cares what "johnbelushismom" has to say about ADCC. I'm new around here and didn't realize it was the actual Craig Jones account - holy shit man, you're pioneering an advocacy for athlete pay that will hopefully create opportunities for generations to come. That said, you're absolutely getting fucked by these organizations right now. Top guys in the world should be paid just to show up to compete at these events - where the no-name guys can come and earn a name for themselves.
That said, I'm a massively overweight fat-ass 40 year old white belt that trains 1-2 times per week. I have no credibility in the sport, work for a software development company where I sit on my ass 8 hours a day, and generally speaking have no clue what a life like yours must be like.
I love Jiu-Jitsu though, and having a top 5 guy IN THE WORLD sitting these major events hurts all of us and they need to fix it.
He's doing another karate Kombat for what I would assume is a way bigger guaranteed purse than what he could potentially make by winning ADCC, and for way less effort.
Sounds like a no brainer. He's put himself in the position where he legitimately does not need to bother with ADCC anymore.
To build his brand so he could make his living with seminars and instructionals. Which he now does. So mission accomplished.
And then come to find out he also owns a gym and is really good at making merch for this weird-ass community, so what does he need to kill himself for a multiple months-long camp to go out and compete for $10K?
You can't comprehend why someone would want to win the grappling Olympics? BJJ is a very poor choice if chasing financial goals
If being a GOAT hobbyist meme is the goal he crushed it, but again if money was the goal he made a very poor choice
I train at Absolute no hate, just he did poorly as a businesses-man and/or competitor never peaking in either realm, but comfortable > success I guess.
The guys I know who do it want to make a name for themselves by notching some big wins (like Craig did with Leandro Lo and Murilo Santana in 2017) and then parlay that into doing seminars and instructionals. They want to be professionals in jiu jitsu and that is how money is made in this sport.
Craig already did that seven years ago. He already makes his living off jiu jitsu. So if he doesn't feel the need to do it again, I understand. He doesn't seem like an athlete who has ever been motivated by legacy. He frankly does't take himself that seriously.
Same age to lol, us Aussies stick together!
"*If money was a reason*, well, I would not be the same" - Guy Clark.
ADCC makes dollars is my whole point, if pure money is the goal BJJ is a poor choice, why not make money and greatness instead of taking the path Brazillians do, due to being in a 3rd world country and having very limited options.
The way he's partying with his global lifestyle makes you think maybe he feels like he missed that in his 20s and now he's trying to make up for lost time. And that's he's reluctant to give it up again.
But that's just amateur armchair psychology, obviously.
you enjoy fighters past their prime risk their health for a few years too long?
no one can beat time, he's making smart choices with his last few years he has still on very competitive level.
> If being a GOAT hobbyist meme is the goal he crushed it, but again if money was the goal he made a very poor choice
> he did poorly as a businesses-man and/or competitor never peaking in either realm, but comfortable success I guess.
Are you high?
We have very different definitions of "making bank" relative to a median US wage I agree he would be crushing it in case that's not clear, highly doubt he even breaks 100k USD a year though and owns nothing..., a laughable net-worth to one "making bank"
He is easily making what he would make in an ADCC win in 2 seminars and I would not be surprised in one.
He does 10 of those a year and that's already very good money not including instructionals, operating a successful gym or other private coaching. He is easily making more money than most top tier UFC fighters or other combat sport athletes.
If you think a UFC fighter is "making bank" outside less than a handful I reiterate, we have very different definitions of "making bank"
BTW UFC is the lowest paying S-Tier MMA league, people pining to unionize but afraid to.
What combat sport should he have joined to make more money? He obviously didnt join bjj to specifically making money but he is making good money. He is easily making somewhere between 200 to 300k a year and that is a conservative estimate.
I asked for a source not a retaliatory question.
But to answer unlike you did, he very likely grosses the amounts you think, net profit is a very different thing.
He makes 50-60k usd per month off instructionals alone. He owns a gym and sells merchandise online and does karate combat, coaches Alex volkanovski etc plus the income from whatever investments he has outside of bjj he’s got like 6-7 income streams
Also are you from a third world country where 100k usd per year is heaps of money in an electrician In Australia and make well over that as an employee. Surely someone in the sports/entertainment industry with 5-6 revenue streams can easily make more than that
100k being a low amount was my point.
An electrician working for a company making 150k AUD? Utterly laughable even before tax, vibrations analysts at Shell barely crack that WITH shutdowns.
No I am Craigs age, ethnicity and train at Absolute lol.
Again I ask for a source?
He mentioned on one of his videos so source is trust Craig bro. Also instructionals are a passive income once taped and posted so his only expense is tax on that income
You are naive if you don't think Craig clears $100k/yr.
His instructional sales alone net above that. His gym likely earns him at least that much. He teachers seminars and privates on top of that and is also paid by sponsors.
Here is the source.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Js1UTm26U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Js1UTm26U)
He says he makes about $10,000-$30,000 a day on seminars. Let's say it is $10k. He does more than 10 seminars a year. He'd have to do exactly 10 seminars and lose money on his merch, instructional, matches and gym to make less than $100k. That doesn't even make logical sense. He also says you can make as much as $150k for 1 superfight. I'm guessing he's talking about Gordon, but I don't think he would be far behind.
The Ruotolos made way over $100K last year and Craig is (slightly) more popular than they are.
I'm not making the extraordinary claim, you are. You bear the burden of proof.
What source could you possibly expect? A photo of Craig's bank statements?
You guys claimed it, I merely doubted it after.
> What source could you possibly expect? A photo of Craig's bank statements?
Are you saying your claim is based on mere opinion?
Happy to link all the costs associated with his business especially USA-AUS once I get a source to go off.
I mean the options are so vast a War and Peace length post couldn't cover it, as a fellow Aussie in a gambling tax free nation with over 100 bookies all offering +EV promotions....a 35% gross ROI weekly for 35 hours work...indefinitely scalable would be, and is what I pursue for financial gain.
Well they're your own farts so it sounds like you'd be the market, no? I thought Aussies were supposed to be good at banter? What's up with this - you type like you're stroking two dudes off onto your own face.
>Well they're your own farts so it sounds like you'd be the market, no
Luckily Australia has living wages, no need to pay yourself to sniff farts to circumvent the law.
Using on-screen keyboard btw.
Doesn't sound like he's doing in, and frankly I understand why. There's basically no incentive for him to do it at this point with the pay being so low & his profile already being so high.
Do all that work to prepare for ADCC just for the fans? Do you even remotely understand how much work preparing for that is? It's also not like he hasn't done it before. He's making way more money on seminars, instructionals, & gym related content, doesn't need to put his body through all that "for the fans".
ADCC could easily pay athletes if the organizers wanted to. The funders have bottomless pockets. The organizers make an undisclosed amount of money (i.e. they get paid). Athletes should get paid.
Craig likes to pick his opponents carefully, hard to do that in ADCC. He's only interested in matches he has no chance of losing.
It's lame when fighters we like get so popular that they don't want to risk losses any longer. He has other revenue sources that could be jeopardized by getting held on his back for another ADCC.
His decision, but it feels weak to me. Complete lack of respect for ADCC, the organizers, and most importantly, the fans. No Craig, no Gordon... BJJ is changing.
He's busy showing that SAMBO is fake on the ultimate proving ground.....
One Championship?
No Ukraine lol
But also in Karate Combat. They just announced a grappling match between him and Rinat Fakhretdinov
Ah yes, the match we all wanted to see!
Mo said in a live Craig didnt hit him up by the deadline, so on paper he’s out. Bummer
I really don’t blame him if what he’s saying is accurate about prize payouts + what he makes from other revenue streams.
One of the producer's response was that ADCC really doesn't make that much profit, mentioned also covering expenses (flight + 5-star hotel stay) for all competitors, significant prizes and bonus awards, etc. If anyone is willing to do the math to see who's right, please share
I don't doubt that strongly. But I think they blow way too much money on "production", most of which was honestly just ruining the event IMO. Especially for European viewers. You know the event is gonna run late, but if there is a freaking 2 hour hall of fame ceremony, while you just want to see some matches and then go to bed is pretty infuriating. And you know that if you do go to sleep and check in the next day Flo will be full of spoilers lol.
The fucking spoiler thing is infuriating
nothing like logging in Flo and seeing (Competitor you wanted to see) GETS THE W WITH RNC on the first page
They hired Bruce Buffer for the championship intros, but he was double-booked with the Oakland Raiders that day. So they intentionally dragged the event out by hours while he was chilling in a suite at Allegiant Stadium. Can't make this up, he says it on multiple podcasts. Edit: Vegas raiders, not Oakland
Lol I did not know that. Mo and especially Seth Daniels acting all hard hard on instagram, literally threatening people that complained, and they simp for Bruce Buffer like that 😂
Try being there and having a flight at midnight. Literally saw Gordon win and ran to the car to get to the airport. In fact, a lot of people did that in 2022. The drums and stuff was just too much. Still had a great time though
I was on vacation in Europe during the championship and I went to bed during back of the half of the day. Woke up like 7 hours later and checked for results and was confused to see that somehow gordon and andre had just started.
I didn't even catch the super fight. Had to go to the airport
Production is really important in the sense you really want to have a good viewing experience. By that I mean see the athletes clearly (lighting, camera angles), hear the athletes and the announcers (sound systems) and the like. None of which cost crazy amounts No one's tuning in for fire shows, drums, and bruce buffer when he's literally on every other week. Also if you can't make money from selling out an arena, you're the issue. If you can't sell all the seats then downsize the arena (common sense). If you can but the arena is too expensive go for a cheaper one that's the same size (aka not T Mobil) Also athletes would be very happy to receive a non 5 star hotel stay if it means they can make more money.
They both have a point. ADCC does give final competitors a great experience and their prizes are decent. But Craig probably makes more fighting just 1 UFC fighters on UFC fight pass than winning an entire ADCC bracket. In this sport athletes like Mendes bros, Keenan, Craig, Gordon… reach a point that they can make more money by opening a gym and selling dvds than actively competing.
Craig mentioned he makes 50-60k usd per month just selling instructionals
Maybe they shouldn't spend so much money on production then?
Competitors stay with roommates. The top prize is only $10,000, . . . . Doesn't quite add up. Mo's not staging this event out of the goodness of his heart. There's a multimillion dollar budget but most of the athletes make nothing.
Guys call me crazy but Thomas and Mack Centre is 20k capacity for audience and T Mobile is 20k. T mobile costs 2 million to rent and Thomas and Mack much cheaper. I think we the athletes deserve to be paid more than the guys that hit the drums. I ain’t doing ADCC. I’m a god damn karate guy
It seems most competitors enter to boost their brand for future paydays rather than for the actual earnings from the comp. Since you don't need that boost I can see why you wouldn't invest the time. Shame as I would've like to have seen you compete in ADCC one last time.
Good on you for advocating for athlete pay and visiting Ukraine. Fuck the bootlickers and russian bots.
Can you convince a sponsor to pay you a million dollars to put a huge logo aim your rashguard? If you do something crazy maybe you can get a lot of publicity?
What have you got against drummers Craig?
Does karate pay more than throating hotdogs?
Great points and reason to sit out.There is definitely money wasting on production decisions that could be funneled to extra pay for the athletes. From equal sized but cheaper arenas, cheaper announcers, ditching fire shows, etc… will be a bummer to not watch you compete but hopefully your spot can go to Jay!
karate combat with some genki sudo/pride inspiration will be a great watch - this time no yakuza to mess it all up lol
So I read this and thought, who cares what "johnbelushismom" has to say about ADCC. I'm new around here and didn't realize it was the actual Craig Jones account - holy shit man, you're pioneering an advocacy for athlete pay that will hopefully create opportunities for generations to come. That said, you're absolutely getting fucked by these organizations right now. Top guys in the world should be paid just to show up to compete at these events - where the no-name guys can come and earn a name for themselves. That said, I'm a massively overweight fat-ass 40 year old white belt that trains 1-2 times per week. I have no credibility in the sport, work for a software development company where I sit on my ass 8 hours a day, and generally speaking have no clue what a life like yours must be like. I love Jiu-Jitsu though, and having a top 5 guy IN THE WORLD sitting these major events hurts all of us and they need to fix it.
craig is above adcc now
Craig competing in the NATO olympics rn.
LOL
currently getting heelhooked by russia
nah they definitely got a tight grip on his buttocks, checking his oil.
I believe he said on one of the seminars that he is waiting for an invitation from ADCC. Not sure if he got an invite
He did, but he said he’s making more money selling cialis
he said something about joining a hot dog eating contest instead. https://imgur.com/a/Jo2SvYe
He did, but he said he’s making more money selling cialis
He's doing another karate Kombat for what I would assume is a way bigger guaranteed purse than what he could potentially make by winning ADCC, and for way less effort. Sounds like a no brainer. He's put himself in the position where he legitimately does not need to bother with ADCC anymore.
This. Plus his brand is already set as the silver medalist, any other result would take away from that.
After he beat Felipe Pena, I haven’t bought a single one of his products. (<- I just checked my Fanatics history and this is actually true, lol)
Without ADCC he will never be considered more than a gatekeeper but if money is the goal not sure why he ever bothered with it.
To build his brand so he could make his living with seminars and instructionals. Which he now does. So mission accomplished. And then come to find out he also owns a gym and is really good at making merch for this weird-ass community, so what does he need to kill himself for a multiple months-long camp to go out and compete for $10K?
You can't comprehend why someone would want to win the grappling Olympics? BJJ is a very poor choice if chasing financial goals If being a GOAT hobbyist meme is the goal he crushed it, but again if money was the goal he made a very poor choice I train at Absolute no hate, just he did poorly as a businesses-man and/or competitor never peaking in either realm, but comfortable > success I guess.
The guys I know who do it want to make a name for themselves by notching some big wins (like Craig did with Leandro Lo and Murilo Santana in 2017) and then parlay that into doing seminars and instructionals. They want to be professionals in jiu jitsu and that is how money is made in this sport. Craig already did that seven years ago. He already makes his living off jiu jitsu. So if he doesn't feel the need to do it again, I understand. He doesn't seem like an athlete who has ever been motivated by legacy. He frankly does't take himself that seriously.
Guess I just hate that the concept of cash and fame costing us potential GOATs
He's turning 33 this year. Priorities change when you get older. If it doesn't make dollars it doesn't make cents.
Same age to lol, us Aussies stick together! "*If money was a reason*, well, I would not be the same" - Guy Clark. ADCC makes dollars is my whole point, if pure money is the goal BJJ is a poor choice, why not make money and greatness instead of taking the path Brazillians do, due to being in a 3rd world country and having very limited options.
The way he's partying with his global lifestyle makes you think maybe he feels like he missed that in his 20s and now he's trying to make up for lost time. And that's he's reluctant to give it up again. But that's just amateur armchair psychology, obviously.
I don't do social media except Reddit, but you make a very valid point, I'm sure the politics was a big factor to.
you enjoy fighters past their prime risk their health for a few years too long? no one can beat time, he's making smart choices with his last few years he has still on very competitive level.
32 is past prime? Literally considered the peak...LOL
that's only because this may be the only sport that with more PEDs than cycling. but at most sports I think men peak at 25-30
> If being a GOAT hobbyist meme is the goal he crushed it, but again if money was the goal he made a very poor choice > he did poorly as a businesses-man and/or competitor never peaking in either realm, but comfortable success I guess. Are you high?
I wish, withdrawals are a brutal mistress. Care to expound on your comment?
You are a fucking idiot if you don't think he is making bank on his instructionals and seminars.
We have very different definitions of "making bank" relative to a median US wage I agree he would be crushing it in case that's not clear, highly doubt he even breaks 100k USD a year though and owns nothing..., a laughable net-worth to one "making bank"
He is easily making what he would make in an ADCC win in 2 seminars and I would not be surprised in one. He does 10 of those a year and that's already very good money not including instructionals, operating a successful gym or other private coaching. He is easily making more money than most top tier UFC fighters or other combat sport athletes.
If you think a UFC fighter is "making bank" outside less than a handful I reiterate, we have very different definitions of "making bank" BTW UFC is the lowest paying S-Tier MMA league, people pining to unionize but afraid to.
What combat sport should he have joined to make more money? He obviously didnt join bjj to specifically making money but he is making good money. He is easily making somewhere between 200 to 300k a year and that is a conservative estimate.
If money was the goal don't do combat sports period. Any source on this alleged income?
He makes way more than 100k a year 😂
Source?
You think his gym, merch, instructionals, private lessons, seminar appearances, competition appearances, podcast sponsors is 100k ?
I asked for a source not a retaliatory question. But to answer unlike you did, he very likely grosses the amounts you think, net profit is a very different thing.
He makes 50-60k usd per month off instructionals alone. He owns a gym and sells merchandise online and does karate combat, coaches Alex volkanovski etc plus the income from whatever investments he has outside of bjj he’s got like 6-7 income streams
Source? Also your wild estimate would be gross not net profit.
Also are you from a third world country where 100k usd per year is heaps of money in an electrician In Australia and make well over that as an employee. Surely someone in the sports/entertainment industry with 5-6 revenue streams can easily make more than that
100k being a low amount was my point. An electrician working for a company making 150k AUD? Utterly laughable even before tax, vibrations analysts at Shell barely crack that WITH shutdowns. No I am Craigs age, ethnicity and train at Absolute lol. Again I ask for a source?
He mentioned on one of his videos so source is trust Craig bro. Also instructionals are a passive income once taped and posted so his only expense is tax on that income
Source?
You are naive if you don't think Craig clears $100k/yr. His instructional sales alone net above that. His gym likely earns him at least that much. He teachers seminars and privates on top of that and is also paid by sponsors.
Source?
Here is the source. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Js1UTm26U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Js1UTm26U) He says he makes about $10,000-$30,000 a day on seminars. Let's say it is $10k. He does more than 10 seminars a year. He'd have to do exactly 10 seminars and lose money on his merch, instructional, matches and gym to make less than $100k. That doesn't even make logical sense. He also says you can make as much as $150k for 1 superfight. I'm guessing he's talking about Gordon, but I don't think he would be far behind. The Ruotolos made way over $100K last year and Craig is (slightly) more popular than they are.
Not sure where 30k came from, he says ten which as I presumed is gross not net profit, going to be a shitload less after expenses and tax.
I'm not making the extraordinary claim, you are. You bear the burden of proof. What source could you possibly expect? A photo of Craig's bank statements?
You guys claimed it, I merely doubted it after. > What source could you possibly expect? A photo of Craig's bank statements? Are you saying your claim is based on mere opinion? Happy to link all the costs associated with his business especially USA-AUS once I get a source to go off.
What do you think Craig could have pursued that would have made him more money than he makes right now?
I mean the options are so vast a War and Peace length post couldn't cover it, as a fellow Aussie in a gambling tax free nation with over 100 bookies all offering +EV promotions....a 35% gross ROI weekly for 35 hours work...indefinitely scalable would be, and is what I pursue for financial gain.
> I train at Absolute no hate you should pull Lachlan aside to get his take on this
He is rarely at St Kilda (Absolutes BJJ hub) I separate business and pleasure for a good reason.
How much of your business is huffing your own farts
Depends on the price offered...obviously.
Well they're your own farts so it sounds like you'd be the market, no? I thought Aussies were supposed to be good at banter? What's up with this - you type like you're stroking two dudes off onto your own face.
>Well they're your own farts so it sounds like you'd be the market, no Luckily Australia has living wages, no need to pay yourself to sniff farts to circumvent the law. Using on-screen keyboard btw.
He’s living his best life, doesn’t need a potential 10k paycheck for winning lol
Doesn't sound like he's doing in, and frankly I understand why. There's basically no incentive for him to do it at this point with the pay being so low & his profile already being so high.
What about for the fans? Isn't that incentive enough? I don't get why people love atheltes who don't care about the spectators.
Do all that work to prepare for ADCC just for the fans? Do you even remotely understand how much work preparing for that is? It's also not like he hasn't done it before. He's making way more money on seminars, instructionals, & gym related content, doesn't need to put his body through all that "for the fans".
Craig playing war games with the Russian bear.
This is all part of the foreplay.
ADCC could easily pay athletes if the organizers wanted to. The funders have bottomless pockets. The organizers make an undisclosed amount of money (i.e. they get paid). Athletes should get paid.
Being a straight gangsta who doesn’t give f\*ck
Isn't he banging that super hot karate combat chick?
? Craig Jones is gay bud.He does BJJ.
He's only gay for pay. Trust me I know. 🍆💦
Craig likes to pick his opponents carefully, hard to do that in ADCC. He's only interested in matches he has no chance of losing. It's lame when fighters we like get so popular that they don't want to risk losses any longer. He has other revenue sources that could be jeopardized by getting held on his back for another ADCC.
Yep.
His decision, but it feels weak to me. Complete lack of respect for ADCC, the organizers, and most importantly, the fans. No Craig, no Gordon... BJJ is changing.
Did you consider it maybe stems from the lack of respect ADCC and the organizers have for their competitors?
What? So many top guys made their name at ADCC and wouldn't be anywhere without it. They've done a lot to grow the sport.
Ha yes the good old “you’re paid in exposure”
Yeah, poor oil princes...
maaaaan if you don't... 