#439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling

**Lex Fridman** (0:00)
The following is a conversation with Craig Jones, martial artist, world traveler, and one of the funniest people in the sport of submission grappling. While he does make fun of himself a lot, he is legitimately one of the greatest submission grapplers in the world. And underneath the veil of nonstop sexualized Aussie humor and incessant online trolling, he is truly a kindhearted human being who's trying to do good in the world. Sometimes, he does so through a bit of controversy and chaos, like with the new CJI tournament that has over $2 million in prize money. And it's coming up this Friday and Saturday. Yes, the same weekend as the prestigious ADCC tournament. The goal of the CJI tournament is to grow the sport. So you'll be able to watch it for free online, live on YouTube and other places. All ticket profits go to charity, mainly to cancer research. So I encourage you to support the mission of this tournament by buying tickets and going to see the event in person. Craig gave me a special link that gives you a 50% discount on the tickets. Go to lexfridman.com/cji and it should forward you to the right place. They're trying to sell the last few tickets now. It's a good cause, go buy some. And also let me say, as a fan of the sport, I highly encourage you to watch both CJI and ADCC and to celebrate athletes competing in both. From CJI with Nikki Ryan, Nikki Rod, Rotola Brothers, Fion Davis, Mackenzie Dern and more, to ADCC with Gordon Ryan, Nicholas Margali, Giancarlo Budoni, Rafael Lovato Jr., Mika Galvao and more. I have a lot of respect for everyone involved. I train with many of them regularly and consider many of them friends, including Craig, Gordon, and of course, John Donoher, who I will talk to many, many more times on this podcast. And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast. We got Eight Sleep for naps, Element for hydration, Better Help for mental health, NetSuite for business stuff, Shopify for selling stuff online, and ExpressVPN for privacy on the interwebs. Choose wisely, my friends. Also, there's a bunch of ways to get in touch with me. If you wanna give feedback, go to lexfreedman.com/survey if you want to submit questions or videos or call-ins for me to answer on the podcast. Go to lexfreedman.com/ama. And there's a bunch of other ways at lexfreedman.com/contact. And now onto the full ad reads. As always, no ads in the middle. I try to make this interesting. But if you skip them, please still check out our sponsors. I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep and it's Pod 4 Ultra. It is a pretty interesting mystery of what's going on in the brain while we sleep. Because it's not like the thing shuts off. It's actually a pretty active and dynamic process. It's also humbling that we need sleep. It is a little death. It is a thing like food that our body requires. That to me is humbling. It's another reminder that we're mortal. Another reminder that we're merely human. That we're merely a biological organism. In fact, it's a reminder that not just our organism, our body, but the entirety of human civilization is fragile. I've been studying a lot about both ancient civilizations and the modern civilizations that were driven by ideologies, especially the communist ideologies. I'll probably do a few videos on those, certainly a few podcasts. Just thinking deeply about the ideas that drive humanity. Anyway, all of these things I dream and think about when I'm laying on the extremely comfortable Eight Sleep bed that controls the temperature and boy isn't needed on these hot Texas summer nights. Go to eightsleep.com/lex and use code Lex to get 350 bucks off the Pod 4 Ultra. This episode is also brought to you by Element, my daily zero sugar and delicious electrolyte mix. It is one of the most delicious things I consume in a day on days like this. So yesterday I had a really hard training session in Jiu Jitsu, I did I don't know, 10, 11 rounds maybe. And it's just all the water from my body is gone. Because I usually don't drink water when I'm training. Not for any particular reason, but just because I don't want to take a break. I really want to go to a place where I'm exhausted. And so once I'm done with training, the level of deliciousness that a cold water with a watermelon salt powder from Element is difficult to describe. It's really, really refreshing. And I found that if I don't consume a electrolyte after training like that, like I start getting a headache, I just start feeling off. And so replenishing the electrolytes after is really important. And of course I also make sure I drink Element beforehand as well. But yeah, all that is important to support the body when you're doing those difficult training sessions. And it is one of the things that allows me to escape whatever the turmoil that's going on in my mind. And the community, the art of it, I love it all. Get a sample pack for free with any purchase. Try at adrinkelement.com/lex.