Jason Nolf will compete in the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational for a $1 million grand prize shortly after his professional grappling debut.
The former Penn State wrestling star is a three-time NCAA champion and Olympic Trials qualifier. He recently made his pro grappling debut and won via submission.
Jones, who began the tournament to coincide with ADCC, the premier grappling tournament for no-gi jiu jitsu, wanted to raise awareness over fighter pay and is also doing the CJI for charity. Nolf accepted his invitation and will compete in August.
“It’s official!,” Nolf wrote on Instagram. “In August I will (be) competing in Las Vegas in the (CJI Invitational) for a chance at $1 million! Can my wrestling get it done?? I think this is so awesome and such a great opportunity for the grappling community. Thank you (Craig Jones). Let’s gooo!!!”
Jones created the tournament after he raised concerns over fighter pay for ADCC. The show up pay is $10,001 for all athletes and there is a $1 million grand prize each for the two division winners.
Nolf will compete in the under 80 KG division. He was a career 157 pounder in college and wrestled at 74 KG for the Olympic Trials this past April.
In April’s trials, Nolf made it to the finals, but lost two matches to zero to Nittany Lion Wrestling Club teammate Kyle Dake. Dake won the Bronze Medal at the 2020 games and is a four-time NCAA champion from Cornell.
Nolf went 115-3 in college, making the NCAA finals all four years he wrestled varsity. He took second place as a redshirt freshman before winning three straight titles to end his career.
Nolf’s Penn State teammate Bo Nickal was pretty excited to see him get into the CJI.
“He’s doing Craig Jones’ (tournament), I’m pumped for him,” Nickal said on his podcast. “That’ll be fun. I think he’s gonna train a little more for that one. Good opportunity for sure.”
Nolf previously expressed a desire to get into jiu jitsu and grappling professionally. He’s not the first Penn State champion to transition to a different combat sport. Nickal currently fights in the UFC and his co-host and former teammate Anthony Cassar also fought professionally.
Two-time NCAA champion Roman Bravo-Young was similar to Nolf and made his grappling debut on UFC Fight Pass last year.
Nolf will go against pro grapplers with years of experience and titles to their names. But it’ll be a fascinating watch to see his skill on display.
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