Craig Jones Nearly Booked Tom Hardy vs. Zuckerberg for CJI 1

The strangest superfight in BJJ history very nearly happened, and most of us never knew. Craig Jones has revealed that he came close to booking Tom Hardy — yes, Bane — against Mark Zuckerberg at the first Craig Jones Invitational, and that both men had agreed to the match in principle before it fell apart.

The story came out on The Ariel Helwani Show, of all places, during a conversation about the "Tom Hardy" tattoo Jones famously carries on his right hand — a decision he now regrets mostly for logistical reasons, since he has to look at it every time he pays for something. You can watch the full conversation on YouTube, and it's worth it just to hear Jones half-wonder aloud whether he's legally allowed to tell the story at all.

The match that almost was

According to Jones, the plan was hatched for CJI 1 — the 2024 event that shook up the grappling world with million-dollar prizes and a free stream, and announced Jones as the sport's most chaotic and most effective promoter. Alongside the serious brackets, he wanted a celebrity showpiece, and he aimed as high as it gets: the Hollywood star who actually competes in Jiu Jitsu against the tech billionaire who actually trains it.

"We did come close. We did come very close," Jones said on the show, as reported by BJJEE. He recalled pitching Hardy directly in New York, sweetening the deal with a very Craig Jones observation: if Hardy beat Zuckerberg, the man could read his DMs forever after. In the end, Jones says, it was a timing issue rather than a lack of will — both sides said yes in principle, and the calendar said no.

There was a second near-miss too. Jones also tried to get Hardy in on short notice when Gable Steveson was injured before CJI 2, but the deal collapsed because there simply wasn't time to put it together. The tattoo, it turns out, traces back to that whole saga.

Two celebrities, two very real grapplers

Here's the part that makes this more than tabloid fluff for anyone who trains: neither of these men would have been a tourist on the mats. Tom Hardy has quietly become one of the most legitimate celebrity grapplers alive — he's entered open BJJ competitions in the UK under his real name, won gold, and by Jones's account trains every single day. Jones called him "the real deal" among celebrities in combat sports, and that's not promoter talk; the competition footage backs it up.

Zuckerberg, for his part, is a genuine Brazilian Jiu Jitsu hobbyist who has competed at local tournaments, medalled, and trains with high-level coaches. Whatever you think of the man's day job, he's done the thing most white-collar celebrities never do: put on a gi, entered a bracket, and risked getting tapped in public.

Which is exactly why the match nearly happened — and why, per Jones, it was genuinely risky for one side. An action star has an image to protect. As Jones put it, if Hardy loses to Zuckerberg, it gets a lot harder to be Bane.

Why this matters for the rest of us in BJJ

It's easy to roll your eyes at celebrity grappling, but matches like this are how Jiu Jitsu grows. Every hobbyist on your mats started because something caught their attention — a UFC card, a YouTube breakdown, a mate who wouldn't shut up about it. Hardy vs. Zuckerberg on a free stream would have put grappling in front of tens of millions of people who've never heard of an armbar, attached to two faces they already know. Some fraction of those people end up walking into an academy near you. That's the whole funnel.

It also says something about where CJI sits in the sport now. Jones has built a promotion that can seriously call up Hollywood and Silicon Valley and get a "yes in principle" — while still paying real athletes real money underneath the spectacle. The circus and the sport funding each other is the model, and this story shows how big the circus tent nearly got.

And maybe the most relatable detail in the whole thing: the biggest near-miss in celebrity Jiu Jitsu came down to the same reason half of us miss training — scheduling. Billionaire, movie star, or blue belt with a day job, the calendar remains undefeated.

Given that both men reportedly agreed in principle once, don't be shocked if this one resurfaces for a future CJI. Jones has never met a wild idea he let die quietly.

Original report via BJJEE.