Craig Jones Announces The Return Of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu

One of the most recognizable names in modern Jiu Jitsu is back in the gym-building business. Craig Jones has officially announced the return of B-Team, the no-gi grappling team he co-founded in 2021, along with plans for a brand new academy that will serve as the squad's headquarters. For a BJJ scene that has spent the past year watching Jones throw money, jokes, and event announcements in every direction, this is the rare news with a foundation under it: a physical home.

The catch, for now, is that nobody outside Jones's circle knows where that home will be. He confirmed the project publicly but left the location blank, which — given his travels — has set off the usual speculation. You can see the announcement on Instagram, where the reveal landed without an address attached.

A short history of B-Team, for anyone who missed it

If you came to Jiu Jitsu recently, here's the backstory. B-Team formed in 2021 when a group of athletes broke away from John Danaher's famous "Death Squad" and set up shop in Austin, Texas. The name was a wink — the "B-Team" framing was self-deprecating, a jab at the idea that anyone leaving Danaher was second-string. The grappling promptly proved otherwise. Within a couple of years the team had become one of the most influential no-gi training centers on the planet, producing high-level competitors and a steady stream of content that made it one of the most-watched gyms in the sport.

That original chapter has since closed. As BJJEE reports, Jones parted ways with the founding B-Team members, who have rebranded as Simple Man Martial Arts and are still racking up results on the competition circuit. So this isn't a reunion — it's a relaunch. Jones is keeping the name and the brand, but he's effectively starting from scratch on the roster.

The location question — and the nomad problem

The mystery address is the most-discussed part of the announcement, and it's a fair thing to wonder about. Jones has lived a genuinely nomadic life over the past several years. On top of his native Australia, he's operated out of Puerto Rico, New York, and Texas, and he regularly teaches and trains in Thailand. A man with that many stamps in his passport isn't an obvious candidate to plant himself behind a single front desk five days a week.

Which raises the practical question every serious academy has to answer: who actually runs the room? Most elite competitive gyms don't lean on one instructor — they're built on a coaching staff, a set of training partners who push each other, and a culture that holds up when the headline name is away. It remains unclear who will join Jones in building this version of B-Team. The brand will draw eyeballs on day one; the day-to-day coaching is what turns eyeballs into black belts.

Why this matters for the average grappler

You might be reading this from a small gym with twelve people on the mat on a good night, wondering why a celebrity team's headquarters should mean anything to you. Here's the honest answer: teams like B-Team set the tone for how no-gi Jiu Jitsu is trained, filmed, and taught everywhere downstream. The leg-lock systems, the body-lock passing, the relentless content — a lot of what shows up in your local open-mat eventually traces back to rooms like this one. When a flagship no-gi team rebuilds, the techniques and the training culture it exports ripple out to the rest of us.

There's also a quieter lesson in the relaunch itself. Jones has done this before — he helped build a world-class academy from nothing once already, and now he's choosing to do it again rather than coast on the brand he created. For anyone who's ever started a club, moved cities, or rebuilt a training group after a gym split, that's a familiar and oddly reassuring story. Starting over isn't failure in Jiu Jitsu. Sometimes it's just the next chapter.

What to watch next

The two things worth tracking are simple: where the academy lands, and who signs on to coach and compete under the revived banner. Those two answers will tell us whether this is a genuine bid to rebuild a powerhouse or a brand exercise with a clever logo. Knowing Jones, expect the reveal to come with a punchline. Knowing the sport, expect the grappling to do the real talking.

Original report via BJJEE.