{"id":103182,"date":"2025-08-29T00:46:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T00:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/103182\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T00:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T00:46:11","slug":"chael-sonnen-confirmed-in-for-rematch-against-crag-jones-at-cji2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/103182\/","title":{"rendered":"Chael Sonnen confirmed in for rematch against Crag Jones at CJI2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">It\u2019s official! Chael Sonnen will face off with Craig Jones in the main event of this weekend\u2019s big <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/bjj-news\/384385\/cji-2-day-1-2-free-live-video-stream-start-time-how-to-watch\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CJI 2<\/a> Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jones was originally set to face Olympic wrestling gold medalist, Gable Steveson, but Steveson pulled out with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/bjj-news\/384974\/sabotage-cji-2-main-event-scrapped-just-days-before-event\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">case of trench toe<\/a>. Now, it\u2019s \u201cThe American Gangster\u201d who will be showing up to fill-in atop the card.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/bjj-news\/385311\/sonnen-to-the-rescue-uncle-chael-claims-hes-grappling-craig-jones-at-cji2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sonnen announced this news<\/a> on his YouTube channel days ago, but we <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flograppling.com\/articles\/14479149-breaking-craig-jones-to-face-mma-icon-chael-sonnen-in-cji-2-main-event\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">now have confirmation<\/a> from broadcast partner FloGrappling that a contract has been signed and he is confirmed for the event. This is a chance for Sonnen to avenge a 2017 loss to Jones during an ADCC Openweight tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jones manhandled Sonnen through that match before catching him in a heel hook (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/bjj-news\/385311\/sonnen-to-the-rescue-uncle-chael-claims-hes-grappling-craig-jones-at-cji2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">watch it here<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">It\u2019ll be a busy weekend for the 48-year-old Sonnen &#8212; he\u2019s set to do commentary for the debut Real American Wrestling event in Cleveland on Saturday. On Sunday, he\u2019ll fly to Las Vegas and compete in the main event against Jones that night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The second Craig Jones Invitational <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2025\/4\/2\/24399353\/cji-2-full-list-craig-jones-invitational-2-confirmed-team-rosters-competitors-fight-card-bjj\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">also features<\/a> a $1 million BJJ tournament featuring eight teams and a $100,000 women\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">It\u2019s a turbulent time in the BJJ and grappling scene. UFC BJJ is making waves by signing top names to exclusive deals, and Jones has made it clear that he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2025\/6\/9\/24444834\/thats-illegal-craig-jones-slams-ufc-bjj-patented-cji-pit-ruleset-jiujitsu-news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">opposes the UFC-ification<\/a> of the sport. He\u2019s noted that the vibes have been off since he turned down a contract with the promotion, and now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/bjj-news\/385471\/gordon-ryan-says-sabotaging-cji-2-was-baller-move-by-ufc-craig-jones-reacts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">there\u2019s a lot of speculation<\/a> that UFC may have had a hand in Steveson\u2019s removal from CJI2 (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/latest-news\/383910\/heavyweight-mega-prospect-gable-steveson-books-short-notice-professional-mma-debut-on-sept-12\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">addition to a LFA MMA event<\/a> being aired on UFC Fight Pass).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">CJI 2 goes down this weekend (Aug. 30-31, 2025) from inside Thomas &amp; Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fans can watch the event online for free via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@FloGrappling\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FloGrappling\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a> and get live results right <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/bjj-news\/384385\/cji-2-day-1-2-free-live-video-stream-start-time-how-to-watch\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s official! Chael Sonnen will face off with Craig Jones in the main event of this weekend\u2019s big&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,74670,786,74671,785,85],"class_list":["post-103182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bjj-news","tag-fighting","tag-jiu-jitsu-tournaments","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}