Craig Jones will retire after CJI 2, and “B-Team” will be closing and rebranding. His rival and former teammate Gordon Ryan of course had a lot to say about it.
Craig Jones is officially retiring. The star grappler turned Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) promoter will hang it up after one final match on his own Craig Jones Invitational 2 (CJI 2) event against Olympic champ Gable Stevenson.
“CJI 2 is in 52 days. It is going to be my last professional match,” Craig Jones announced. “B-Team as we know it will also cease to exist.”
Craig Jones, who has been busy traveling the world and working as a BJJ promoter, hasn’t been around his B-Team gym enough. Even as he technically has a training camp for this match, it isn’t going to happen on B-Team as he is having a seminar tour across the US.
Jones will no longer be part of the stable, with B-Team rebranding under new leadership, and Nicky Ryan also transitioning as the new head coach.
“B-Team is going to be taken over and rebranded. It’s going to be ran by Nicky Ryan, head coach. Nicky Rod will be there. Ethan (Crelinsten) will be there. Damian (Anderson) will be there,” Jones announced.
“Me? I am out of here. I’ve got one competition match left. B-Team’s done, and I will be leaving America,” he said. “After August 31, I don’t know what I’m doing, but you will not see me again.”
With this news, it looks like B-Team’s last competition under that banner will also be on CJI 2, as they look to win that $1 million team tournament on August 30-31, 2025.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images BJJ great Gordon Ryan reacts to B-Team rebranding, Craig Jones’ retirement
Soon after Craig Jones’ announcement, Gordon Ryan unsurprisingly took to social media to react to the news about his former teammate turned bitter enemies.
The original Danaher Death Squad from New York fractured into B-Team and New Wave in 2021, reportedly stemming from alleged abuse and assault that occurred within the original team. Gordon Ryan has since posted a pretty long rant to celebrate B-Team’s end.
“Good news, everyone! In less than a short 5 years, nearly everyone who left the greatest combat team that has ever existed to form their own team has now also left that team,” Ryan said. “and almost all who left have asked to rejoin kingsway. Even people who didn’t leave have asked to rejoin.”
It’s worth noting that B-Team will just look to be doing a simple rebrand and continue with the same core team as Jones retires. Before this, Ryan himself has also rebranded their gym from New Wave to Kingsway after seemingly retiring from competition himself.
Here’s the rest of Ryan’s post, where he has turned off the comments to avoid what would certainly be a lot of discussions from fans.
“I guess they aren’t happy with their leader romanticizing cocaine and losing constantly. Or maybe it’s the fact that seeing Big Foot on camera is a more likely catch than seeing the leader of the gym actually at the gym,” Ryan wrote. “Or maybe it’s the fact that the leader of the gym is traveling the world partying while the real members run the gym? Or maybe it was their leader throwing BOTH the rod boys under the bus for his own publicly perceived morality. Who knows.
“All i know is that by their own admission, they give 0 f—s about building any new talent, which isnt surprising since they havent built a single decent athlete outside the guys who were our students in almost 5 years. Its ok that they dont give a f—k about anyone who isn’t good. Thats ok! I know of a sick spot in Austin tx that’s opening soon, where we will have world champions, not blue belts teaching our pro classes, and teaching to all levels and aspirations. Nothing better than ‘cutting out the poison’ and then having over 50% of the initial people jumping ship! I guess its time for a rebrand, boys. You can call yourselves team bankrupt, starting the 1st week of August!”
Interestingly enough, both B-Team and New Wave / Kingsway will be competing at the $1 million team tournament at CJI 2. Gordon Ryan won’t be joining, but that rivalry will be one of the highlights from the upcoming event, and both have pretty strong line ups and will be among the favorites to win a million dollars.
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