Tackett Brothers Withdraw from ADCC 2024 | Join Craig Jones Invitational
ADCC West Coast trials winners, William & Andrew Tackett have announced that they have withdrawn from ADCC 2024 to join Craig Jones Invitational & chase the $2 million-dollar total prize.
Remember William Tackett’s article at the beginning of this month, where he hinted at the possibility of competing on Craig Jones event? Well that now has crazy enough turned into reality.
The Inside Scoop
Craig Jones officially announced the invitational on Thursday, and just a day after, William and his brother, Andrew Tackett took to Instagram to share the news.
While for most, this decision seems like a no brainer, William and Andrew have dreamed of winning ADCC since they were young and love the event, so this was something they had to really think about. Ultimately, as they said in their captions, winning a million dollars is life changing and it’s an opportunity they can’t pass up.
William also posted a more in-depth breakdown about his decision on YouTube.
After sending head organizer, Mo Jassim, a message explaining their stance behind withdrawing from the 2024 Worlds, their hope is to still win ADCC one day, even if that means winning trials again to get in. ADCC has already found replacements though, with Elder Cruz taking William’s spot & Andy Varela taking Andrew’s.
The Argument of Craig Jones Invitational vs. ADCC
When it comes to what the beef is between CJI and ADCC, the biggest factor is seemingly pay. CJI is investing most of their money in the athlete payout, offering $1 million per division to win. On the other hand, ADCC pays out 10k per division to win & 40k for the absolute.
ADCC seems to focus more of their budget towards production to produce a fan friendly experience. It should also be mentioned, CJI is also paying athletes $10,001 just to show, ADCC is not offering show money. While both strategies greatly support the growing sport of jiujitsu, it is easy to favor Craig’s event from an athlete’s standpoint.
Jiujitsu black belt and avid photographer/videographer, James Davis Cole also posted a great breakdown of the two events and what we can expect to see over the next few months.
Event Details
Craig Jones Invitational will inevitably be held the same weekend as ADCC. However, Craig has scheduled the 2-day event for August 16th & 17th, which is Friday & Saturday. This means fans can potentially attend both events.
For CJI, we can expect the two, 16-man divisions, as well as some celebrity super fights.
The cost for CJI spectator tickets is still unknown. From what we have picked up on, we can imagine they wouldn’t be too unreasonable.
You can catch CJI and the Tackett brothers live at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you can’t make it in person, the event is to be streamed free on YouTube. What a wild weekend for jiujitsu in August. We can’t wait!
Follow along with us, as we document William Tackett’s prep for Craig Jones Invitational.
