Craig Jones recently appeared on the Jits and Giggles podcast, recorded in an unconventional setting, and opened up about how he ended up at the UFC Freedom rally alongside former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
Jones explained that his friendship with Strickland began at a UFC event where the two were seated near each other, with David Goggins working Tony Ferguson’s corner.
“I was sitting next to Sean Strickland. And David Gogggins was in the corner of Tony Ferguson motivating him. Sean was screaming at him to give him real advice,” Jones recalled, noting that the encounter was memorable enough to kick off an ongoing friendship.
The two later trained together at Xtreme Couture ahead of a Craig Jones Invitational event, and Jones described Strickland as “a guy that will say crazy things and then immediately walk it back.”
When the UFC Freedom rally came around, Jones happened to be in Washington D.C. with no particular plans. He connected with Strickland, who was already dealing with some tension after showing up to the weigh-ins in a hood, hat, and face mask, drawing the attention of law enforcement and getting swarmed by the crowd once he was recognized.
“He was a bit anxious about going to the Ellipse,” Jones said. The turning point came when Jones got Strickland on the phone. “The triggering word I said to him was, ‘You call yourself an American,'” Jones said, noting that was all it took to get Strickland moving.
Jones met him at his hotel, where the gravity of the moment was not lost on him. “I realized it was serious because his wife kissed him in a way that was like it could be the last one,” he said.
The two made their way to the event, had to log into other people’s ticket accounts to get in, and once inside, Strickland was quickly recognized. Jones said that when Strickland’s instinct was to run through the crowd, it was not exactly a tactically sound decision.
Strickland eventually made it into the ring, accepted a beer from someone in the crowd and drank it, and had his moment. Jones waited, then slipped in for a photo.
“I snuck in there for some clout at the end,” he admitted.
A UFC staff member confronted Jones but recognized him and backed off.
When police escorted Strickland out, Jones said he was chasing after him out of concern because Strickland had an injured shoulder and the officers were handling him roughly. On the way back, Jones was offered a ride to the hotel that came with a disorderly conduct charge attached. He declined.
“As a law-abiding green card holder, I declined the lift,” he said.
Jones said the two have not had a full debrief since, though they checked in on each other afterward. As for his role in making it all happen, Jones was characteristically straightforward: “I incited that and came out of it without any charges, which is just what I like to do.”
