If Dana White was hoping to get BJJ fans’ attention with his new grappling league, he certainly got the right two competitors to coach the teams.
Craig Jones has announced that he will be coaching a team against Gordon Ryan for the initial season of The Ultimate Grappler.
The once-teammates, now bitter rivals, are going to go head-to-head, and at the very least, we know there’s going to be a ton of smack-talking.
The Ultimate Fighter is being used as a launching pad for the UFC to jump headfirst into the BJJ world to create its own grappling league.
Initially, it was thought that Mikey Musumeci would be coaching against Gordon Ryan; however, let’s be honest. If you want ratings and buzz on the internet, you get Craig Jones and Gordon Ryan, because it was just a few months ago that the two agreed they would “fight on sight” if they saw each other.
Gordon Ryan Escapes Insane Armbar, Submits Craig Jones 😳🤙 pic.twitter.com/eYRuB0RcEZ
— Lock-In Jiu-Jitsu (@lockinjiujitsu) March 27, 2024
Recently, questions about what Gordon Ryan’s future would look like had been swirling.
The BJJ star has been sick and injured off and on for a while, and when his coach, John Danaher, named the members of New Wave to compete in CJ2, Ryan’s name never came up.
“Gordon is very sick at this point, so I don’t believe he’ll be competing again,” Danaher revealed.
Ryan, known as the greatest BJJ grappler ever, no longer competing, was a shock, and many wondered what he would do next.
Now, we know: not only is he going to be coaching, it appears he may also be working with the UFC in some capacity.
As for Craig, he’s also been busy in the UFC and has seemingly started a beef with UFC fighter Belal Muhammad.
Belal Muhammad and Craig Jones is such a random beef just have Craig do the talking for JDM at the press conference pic.twitter.com/YLUofwxnKD
— Benny P 🇦🇺 (@Bendaman2001) April 26, 2025
Below is the announcement from Jones that he will be coaching against Gordon Ryan.
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