Craig Jones was deemed to have done just enough to earn a decision victory over Matheus Diniz at GrappleFest 2, but that decision was anything but correct in the eyes of the Brazilian Diniz after the judges raised Jones’ hand in Liverpool at GrappleFest 2.

The two met in a 20 minute, submission-only rule set in an openweight match. 

Diniz cut a frustrated and shell-shocked figure immediately after the match, quickly debating the result with not only his corner, but the referee and judges too. 

As the match begun, Diniz showed no concern for the time limit by rushing out and showing signs of his athleticism with explosive movement and pass-attempts at a frantic pace. A few times he came close, but ultimately his aggressive top game wasn’t enough to pass Jones’ guard. 

Jones– even when using his signature z-guard / half butterfly– wasn’t able to elevate Diniz enough to enter a leg entanglement or threaten the sweep. The pair found themselves in a stalemate no matter where the match went, but there could be no draw so the judges had to find a reason to name a winner.

Diniz opened up on his frustrations backstage. While remaining respectful to Craig, he was firmly in the belief that this narrow match should have gone as a W in his book.

“I think I won the match. I’m not going to say clearly, but I have a lot of respect for Craig– he’s a nice guy– but he did nothing you know,” said Diniz. 

“He was holding me in closed guard in a body triangle and holding my leg. I cannot posture up in that position, I can’t! In the end, I got him in a guillotine but the time ran out. I don’t see what he did. I’m just really frustrated.” 

Jones believed that credit should be given for the guard players and the threat they can pose. After all, a guard is precisely that. It guards against the attacks of the opponent and controls their movement.

“First of all, I’m going to have to learn to wrestle between now and the next ADCC,” he quipped. “I can completely understand why he thought he won. He thought he neutralized my attacks and made some attempts to pass, but that’s just top against bottom though.”

But how do you judge a match where two highly refined games a thwarted? Craig Jones has some of the most feared leglocks in the game. Chael Sonnen, Richie Martinez and Jake Shields couldn’t stop them, yet Matheus Diniz safely navigated the dangerous guard of Jones without ever really being threatened.

On whether he thinks he had Craig Jones figured out. Diniz was confident it’ll be a different story should they meet again.

“I was good the whole time. Especially now, I’ve felt him. I think next time we fight, it’ll be even better for me. It’s pretty clear what he does.” 

On the other hand, large parts of the match saw Matheus Diniz having to sit back and/or sprawl on Jones’ bottom leg to avoid him being able to come under and elevate for the attack. It could quite easily be said that Diniz spent as much time having to stuff Jones’ game as Jones did with Diniz by keeping a tight closed guard throughout.

“When people have my kind of style, people are very wary of the submission orientated game. Guys on top aren’t really opening up either,” Jones explained. “They’re dropping to the knees and sitting back. It’s two people unwilling to budge.” 

Could we see a rematch? Both Jones and Diniz are likely to want to prove the decision was right or wrong in the long run, especially with the grappling world likely to be debating who won this one for weeks to come.

“I’ve lost matches before by referee’s decision, really close matches. But this one, I don’t know, you feel it inside of you and it’s like ‘oh man’.” Diniz continued. “And I think Craig doesn’t see this as a win as well. He’s a good guy, he knows.”

Jones is happy to meet him again too. Promoters, there’s an opportunity for you here.

“Matheus stepped out and did submission only. I’d be happy to do some sort of points event with him – I think that would be the only fair solution. Power to him, it was outside of his rule set and it was a frustrating match that could have gone either way.” 

Jones went on. 

“For me, until the next ADCC, this is just a part of the warm up. That’s the achievement that everyone wants so I need to learn how to wrestle! That’s the goal and I’m moving for it.”

By Tom Bell