ets Talk About Gordon Ryan Craig Jones ~ Chris Williamson

If he said that he wanted to come over

I'd let anyone do it. Yeah, you know. Obviously, I got the custom gold Craig Jones Invitational ring he'd have to kiss, but for sure I'd let him in, you know.

What if he said that he had to fight you? Would you do it for a super fight? I mean, you've already got Gabby on the table.

I think I've got a bigger match, you know. We're doing something that crossing the mainstream, battle of the sexes, you know. [laughs]

This is gender equality. W- talk to me about sort of Gordon's role as the figurehead for the sport, because he is super dominant, you know, sort of the Lewis Hamilton a couple of years ago in F1, where kind of wasn't-- didn't really seem like that much of a, a competition. Um, does this help to make it more interesting?

Well, what I think is most funny about this, so Gordon, unquestionably best grappler in the world, had many health issues, disappeared. He comes and goes. He battles health issues, comes back, competes, beats everyone. For sure beats everyone. But he's a controversial figure. Uh, just, I mean, he says crazy shit online. Like he's got strong conservative, uh, political beliefs. But I mean, if you were to look at his Instagram, it's a Facebook dad Republican page. You know what I mean? That's the sort of stuff he's sharing nonstop. And he's, I would say, money obsessed, and, uh, I would say he's kind of, um, I would say insecure. You know? I think anyone that takes offense to jokes that are like light-hearted, I find them a little insecure or like, uh, he bites, he bites all the time. And like, you would understand this, Americans take the bait. We roast each other. Like, I've said worse things to my friends and relatives than I've said about Gordon Ryan, but these guys take the bait, and that's the game for us. You know, we love throwing something out. If someone overreacts, that's what I live for. That's, that's fun to me. So it's like Gordon, in terms of this tournament, this tournament is the ultimate bait because we're talking about free market competition. It's good, according to his political beliefs. We're talking about money. He loves money. There's 100 times m- more money in this. But he has to choose to stay with the old tournament or go to the tournament of someone he hates. And that's-

Does he hate you?

I think so. Yeah, I think so.

Do you hate him?

I don't hate him. I love the-- I love that he exists, you know. I love that he exists. It's entertainment, you know. I mean, we used to train together. We used to... I wouldn't say we were friends. Like, we would train together. We wouldn't hang out after training or anything. So I think it's like we're training partners. We weren't close friends.

What-- Uh, how much of jujitsu culture do you think is downstream from Gordon and John and kind of that culture that they've created?

Yeah, for sure. Massive influence, probably for the last seven, seven, eight years. Massive influence on the sport. Um, and it's-- They really broke new barriers by making no-gi more popular and more respected. Everyone used to do the gi, and the gi guys used to win most of the no-gi tournaments. And then Danaher's crew came along as kind of no-gi only guys