Craig Jones is the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach for former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. He believes that most MMA star don’t actually require a dedicated BJJ coach in their corner nowadays.
This shows how far UFC and MMA have come. The early days of the UFC played a pivotal role in promoting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to a global audience. When the UFC debuted in 1993, it was designed as a no-holds-barred competition where guys from different martial arts could showcase their skills against one another.
Royce Gracie, representing his family’s BJJ system, dominated the first several events despite being smaller than many of his opponents. His victories, achieved through submissions rather than strength, highlighted the effectiveness of BJJ in real combat situations. Gracie’s success in winning three of the first four UFC tournaments demonstrated the value of technique over size and power, leading to a surge of interest in BJJ across the world. The UFC, as a platform, became instrumental in elevating BJJ from a relatively unknown discipline to a foundational element of mixed martial arts. But the meta has now significantly shifted with sport BJJ straying quite far from the origin story.
Speaking on a recent podcast, Jones said: “Jiu-Jitsu coach is a pretty small aspect of an MMA corner. Most of the time you probably don’t even need a Jiu-Jitsu coach for MMA fight.”
Jones explained that his role in Volkanovski’s corner is often limited, especially against striking-focused opponents. “Against Holloway, I’m just holding the bucket you know, like there’s no point,” he joked.
The grappling expert noted that BJJ coaching for MMA is typically focused on specific defensive techniques rather than complex offensive strategies. For Volkanovski’s bout against Islam Makhachev, Jones said they mainly worked on “specific submission defense” against moves Makhachev was known for.
While acknowledging that confidence in escaping submissions can help with overall grappling, Jones emphasized that “standing back up is wrestling” – implying that’s often more crucial than pure BJJ skills in MMA.
Jones suggested that dramatic changes to a fighter’s grappling game are difficult to implement for a single fight. Instead, he focuses on minor adjustments to a fighter’s natural responses in key positions.
