Craig Jones International 2, UFC PI, and Four Days with the Best in the World
Wednesday 27th was travel day. It doesn’t matter how many times you do it, Sydney to LA, then straight on to Vegas is rough. A 5 hour wait in LA added to a 90 min delay out of Sydney was just another little joy to start the trip.
But eventually bags were dropped, check-in done, and suddenly I was standing in the Nevada heat about to kick off four days with 44 of the best Jiu Jitsu athletes on the planet.
This time I wasn’t alone. Chris Jaffrey – who to all of us is known simply as Jaff, joined me as the other half of the CJI medical performance team. Jaff obviously spends most of his time making me look good. A Strength and Conditioning coach and owner of @raise.performance he is universally respected for his work in MMA, combat and contact sports and Jiu Jitsu. After seeing the impact of the physio role at CJI1, we made the call to expand the team for CJI2.
The goal was simple: every athlete should have access not just to treatment and injury management, but also to elite-level S&C services and potentially a tailored rehab programming that would last beyond the event.
I still don’t fully understand Jiu Jitsu. But the point has never been to understand every detail of the sport – it’s to be there for the athletes.
From 15 degrees and rain in Sydney to 39 degrees on the Strip, Thursday started early with a little stroll to see some sights – mostly the over and under and through casinos chasing the air conditioning, window shopping the (all) shops we can’t afford and experiencing the bizarre that is Vegas – even still shiny and extravagant at 10am.
The highlight of the day was a trip to what feels like my 2nd home in Vegas – and a chance for Jaff to tour the UFC Performance Institute for the first time.
It seemed crazy to think that after working with Volk and numerous other UFC contracted fighters for almost 10 years, but for me this was a real highlight of trip made possible by the likes of Gavin Pratt and Charles Stull (@_the_angry_dietician).
These guys have been great resources for the world of combat sports, universally acknowledged as leaders in their field. To enjoy a full afternoon with them, so generous with their time, showing us through the facility and swapping insights from the world of MMA was a treat made all the better because for once it was without the chaos of fight week or midnight training sessions.
We even squeezed in a lift session in the PI ourselves to shake out the jet lag.
That night we were back on duty. A home visit to our favourite female grappler, Adele Fornarino, complete with laughs, treatment, and a cameo from UFC athlete Vanessa Demopoulos.
Friday meant weigh-ins at Thomas & Mack – located in UNLV – from 8am. The athletes arrived from every corner of the globe. This is what I love about my role in tournaments, the trust came quickly, admittedly being introduced as “Volk’s guy,” and returning from CJI1 in 2024, helps make the buy-in instant.
Saturday morning gave me just enough time to discover the Vegas factory outlets – dangerous even for a non-shopper. But the real work started soon after with arrival for the big show from 3pm.
More than twenty athletes quickly realised the performance team wasn’t reserved for one star or one team. It was open access, and was planned to ensure everyone was treated equally. Once that penny dropped, Jaff and I were flat out, moving from one athlete to the next, providing the same level of professional support we pride ourselves on when working with our elite sporting population and at UFC main events.
Special shout out to sponsor Dan Bradshaw from StreetX. Obviously not for competing, but for somehow managing to find his way onto the physio table every single day of the competition. Vegas takes it out of everyone, and Dan clearly wasn’t immune.
CJI is its own beast. A million dollars for the men’s team event. $100,000 for the women’s bracket. The highest payouts in Jiu Jitsu history.
With that kind of money, you’d expect egos, aloofness, rudeness befitting high-pressure behaviour. What we saw instead was humility, respect, and professionalism. That’s the memory I’ll carry from this tournament. World-class athletes who are also world-class humans.
The women’s semis were tough. Adele lost a controversial decision that had the Aussie medical team (very biased) shaking our heads. I still don’t really know the rules, but apparently the person on top isn’t always winning. And sometimes looking like you’re winning doesn’t mean you are winning.
Sunday was the big one. Literally the $US 1 million day. Team Australasia in green and gold showed what “whatever it takes” really means. Seeing Belal Etiabari, written off by commentators and social media alike, step up battered and bruised for the final match was as tough as it gets.
For me, it was wall-to-wall work. Multiple athletes, multiple bouts, each one competing for their biggest ever payday. In between, the friendships and connections are created and valued.
From San Diego, Miami, Brazil, Kentucky, Austin and anywhere else I’ve forgotten, I feel we’ve created new links in a growing global network.
Results weren’t the point (for me at least). It was the celebration of the sport. The organised chaos of Craig Jones. The smooth professionalism of Seth Belisle. And the behind-the-scenes efforts of people like Anthony Horta keeping it all together.
Highlights? The trust from legends like Geo Martinez, Vagner Rocha, Lachlan Giles, Lucas Barbosa.
The privilege of working with game changers like Adele Fornarino, Giancarlo Bodoni, Jozef Chen, and 19-year-old phenom Dorian Olivarez.
And the old-school physio laughs with Jacob Couch, Owen Jones (taking on Kaynan Duarte at 66kg v 99kg!), Gavin & Deandre Corbe, Elijah Dorsey, Taylor Pearman, and Kyle Boehm.
After four nights in the U.S., it’s easy to think the work is about the travel, the spectacle, or the chaos of competition. But really, it’s about something much simpler.
It’s about being trusted to step into athletes’ biggest moments, to keep them moving forward, and to help them walk out ready for whatever comes next. That trust is the real prize – after all, the rich prize money wasn’t ever there on the table for us non competitors!
So, to the coaches who hand over their athletes, the organisers who open the door, and the competitors who let us in on their journey, a huge thank you.
From this bald Aussie, I will always default to the simple and most important way to summarise the week: appreciation and gratitude.
