Australian grappling star Craig Jones has issued a bold challenge to Team Khabib, proposing a unique match format. During a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Jones laid out his ambitious call-out while promoting his upcoming CJI 2 event.
The challenge centers around Jones’ belief that his training partner Mica Galvão, who competes under Flo Grappling, could single-handedly defeat multiple members of Khabib’s team in consecutive matches.
Jones expressed his confidence in Galvão’s abilities, stating: “I think Mica could probably run through consecutively the entire Kabib team back to back to back to back.”
Jones didn’t stop there, escalating the challenge further by suggesting a five-versus-one format. “I’m putting the call out on the show. If you guys really mean business, give us your best five jiu-jitsu rules. Versus Mica Galvão. I reckon Mica would submit every guy on Khabib’s team in under a minute,” Jones declared.
When asked if this meant five versus one, Jones confirmed: “Yeah. I mean, and that’s favorable to Mica in my opinion.”
The challenge stems from Jones’ skepticism about the effectiveness of Sambo, the combat sport closely associated with Khabib and his team.
Jones offered his assessment of the discipline: “Khabib talks a lot about how good sambo is. You know what I mean? Like my opinion is sambo is just a bunch of judo guys decided to take their pants off and wrestle. That is really what sambo is. So, I want him to put up or shut up basically.”
This call-out comes as Jones prepares for his CJI 2 event, scheduled for August 30-31 in Las Vegas. The event will feature a team-based format with eight teams competing for a $1 million prize, moving away from the individual tournament structure of the inaugural CJI event.
Jones has been vocal about his desire to elevate the sport of jiu-jitsu and provide athletes with more leverage in negotiations. His challenge to Team Khabib is just another attempt to create high-profile matches that could bring more attention to competitive grappling.
