The bad blood between Craig Jones and Gable Steveson just refuses to die down. What started as a hyped “super fight” at CJI 2 (Craig Jones Invitational) has now turned into a war of words, with accusations flying faster than any submission attempt. The Olympic gold medalist initially stated that he walked away because of injury, but now he’s framing the whole canceled bout in a much darker light.

So what exactly did he say? As per a post by Ariel Helwani on X, which was shared by Jones on his own Instagram account, it was revealed that, “Gable Steveson claims Craig Jones asked him to take a dive in their cancelled CJI 2 match: If you really wanna ask, there was a look in the eye of saying, ‘Hey, I’m gonna retire after this match. I don’t wanna take this loss. Can you do this for me?’ And we’ll leave it as that.”

“I stayed quiet because I’m a man” – Gable Steveson on why he didn’t speak out

Steveson said that he tried to keep this whole ‘shady interaction’ under wraps out of respect, and felt Jones had not accomplished enough in grappling to “understand his perspective.” He even pointed to Jones’ multiple losses against Gordon Ryan as proof.

Steveson further stated, “I personally did not have any ill intention with pulling out of this match… I stayed quiet because I’m a man. I’m not gonna go out there and speak bad about somebody because something’s wrong or something didn’t go my way, I look at things in a different way.  Maybe he doesn’t because he hasn’t accomplished anything in his field. He’s lost to Gordon Ryan about 3-4 times.”

Craig Jones, never one to shy away from controversy, hit back immediately. In the caption for the post where he had shared the report by Ariel Helwani, he wrote, “A man of Truth” before adding, “So you agreed to a “work”? But then got injured and had to pull out of a work. Make that make sense for me?”

The Australian grappler made it clear he wasn’t buying a word of Steveson’s version of events. But here’s where it gets even more interesting. By calling it a “work,” Jones turned the tables on Gable Steveson. Why would a man who supposedly agreed to such terms then back out, citing injury?

Meanwhile, Steveson is walking a tightrope between two worlds. His wrestling accolades are unmatched, but transitioning into MMA and grappling has not been smooth. The turf toe that kept him out of CJI 2 was met with skepticism, especially after he debuted in MMA days later at LFA 217, where he demolished Braden Peterson in the first round.

As such, this feud has become bigger than one canceled match, with shots now being thrown from both sides. Yet, that wasn’t the only controversy that emerged from the CJI 2 event, as Jones has also come out guns blazing against calls of ‘bias’ against him!

Craig Jones clears the air as controversy over ‘bias’ clouds CJI 2

After the finals of CJI 2 between B-Team and New Wave ended in a razor-thin decision, talk quickly shifted from technique to controversy. Given the history between the two teams, born from the split of the Danaher Death Squad, it wasn’t shocking that the outcome was met with suspicion.

Craig Jones, however, wasn’t having it. In a video released online, he fired back at claims of favoritism and laid out why the accusations don’t add up as he stated, “If I was going to be biased to my former team — DDS, New Wave — I would not have given them Mica Galvao.”

The Aussie grappler reminded critics that he handed New Wave one of the best grapplers in the world as a wild card, hardly the move of someone looking to sabotage them. He also addressed complaints that team ATOS received more opportunities than others. According to Jones, when New Wave pointed out ATOS had two wildcards, he adjusted the rules on the spot.

As for the judging itself, Jones suggested the confusion stemmed from a misunderstanding of the 10-point must system. Fans assumed New Wave should’ve won because they had more match victories, but Jones explained that wasn’t how the scoring was designed.

According to him, “Everyone’s confused because they were like ‘wait a minute… New Wave won three matches, B-Team won two.’ Well guess what, in a UFC title fight, you can win three rounds and still lose the fight. The tiebreaker condition in a draw scenario is that the last round wins. Everything I did in molding the ruleset for this event was that so you could not just get up in a perceived way and then coast to victory. We wanted to weigh the last round heavy.”

At the heart of it all, Craig Jones is fighting on two fronts, denying Gable Steveson’s explosive “dive” claims while defending CJI 2 from accusations of bias. For him, both battles come down to the same point: protecting his credibility as a grappler and now as a promoter. Steveson may have his Olympic gold, but his injury excuse, followed by an MMA debu,t has left fans questioning his side of the story.