YouSaid · the spoken record

Craig Jones

lines on the record: 184
first: 2024-08-14
most recent: 2024-08-14
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yeah, so karate combat have a square pit. We have a rectangular alley. We like the visual of just you're in the alley with someone, you know, you come, we both know what goes on an alley. There's only a couple things that could go on back there.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Think that, and honestly, when we talk about so you're an investor, I think that could fund the entire tournament. It'd be that successful.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And we do have a wager on the line. This might be the first wager of its kind. I would hope in combat sports history. If she wins, I'll personally give her a million dollars. If I can foot lock her, we're going to collaborate together in an only fans sex tape.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I would say it's a motivational message to the guy that keeps sending DMs to a guy on Instagram for years. That may be after three years it could also happen for you. No matter her height and weight, I think persistence is the key here.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, Gabby Garcia is the legend of sort of women's grappling. I think she's won more than anyone else. So between me and her, we would at least have 15 to 20 world championships, I'd imagine. Is huge. I say that in an endearing way. She might be six foot four, six foot three. And her weight varies depending on what time of the day it is between 220 and 275 pounds, but she's going to be coming in quite big and strong. Me, I am about 179 pounds right now. And a 5'11. So I've got a significant size disadvantage. She has the credentials, but we're going to scrap it out, scrap it out, and see who's best, the greatest woman's competitor of all time, or a guy that's never won anything”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Can watch all that Friday, you can watch most of ADCC Saturday, and then Saturday night in Las Vegas, I'll be doing what many men have done before, and that is wrestling a giant woman.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For the fans will be able to watch both events. You'll be able to go all day Friday for us. You'll sadly miss the ADCC Hall of Fame ceremony where you'll see many of great speakers, public speakers, philosophers tell their stories about hardship, just like at the end of any Jiu-Jitsu seminar or beginning if you're blessed like that. You might have a 45 minute monologue about how they more knowledgeable than doctors, lawyers, classic black belt technique, but you will miss that.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Everyone gets $10,000 and $1 across the board and a million dollars prize money. So there's no room for really negotiation for the tournament aspect of us. So he has a vested interest in putting his guys in ADC because he can negotiate show money and he can basically take 20% of that for himself. But really, for the sport of grappling, this is incredible across the board because by us stealing or at least borrowing a bunch of athletes from ADC, ADCC had to fill their divisions. So they filled their divisions with many other competitors that wouldn't have ordinarily had the chance to do ADC. And really, although we've scheduled it the same weekend, ours is actually Friday, Saturday, ADC being Saturday, Sunday. Our day starts pretty late. So we start 5 p.m. Saturday. So really, ultimately it was a big marketing ploy to go head to head, pretending like we're making the fans change.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But what logically happens is that, oh, look at how much money he has. We're going to give us more show money. So they're negotiating with me. There was one particular Brazilian businessman, manager. I won't say his name, but he looks like the thing from Fantastic 4. And he was a manager for some of these athletes. And he would take a massive 20% cut. So what he, and I got to pay respect to this because it actually caused drama to the other team as well. But he would, I would invite an athlete to CJ. He would go to the other organization and he would say to them, hey, what sort of deal could you give me to keep this guy? You want to keep him in your event? And he would use CJ to leverage more show money for his guys, of which he gets to grease the wheels with 20% for himself. However, at CJI.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Do you have the documents now, some of the guys obviously told me, you know how it is? He's slapping a million dollars on the table. It looks great. That was me proving I had the money. Wasn't even my money to begin with, but it was basically me saying, hey, the money's real. I don't know why, but strangely, a lot of people don't believe me when I'm telling the truth.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There. They started. Again, I kind of emphasize this enough allegedly paying show money, which is never historically been done before, to keep athletes in their show.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Was they matched the female pay to the men's pay? So the women always traditionally got paid less, I think $6,000 for first place. As soon as we had Fion Davies, the reigning champion, come across to do a super fight with us, bang, ADCC raised the prize money of the women's division to equal the men's. So me being a feminist activist throughout many of my years on this earth immediately got women's pay raised in the sport of jiu-jitsu, equalized, basically, which went counter to everything the promoter had said because he said it was out of his control. To raise money, he said only the ADC, I guess, coming directly from the Sheikh or the Sheikh's sort of guys could raise the prize money, he got it raised. And then what happened was once we started getting some of these big names here, so some of the best guys from ADCC would be in this division. We got a bunch of champions or medalists or really the top betting favorites for their division.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So initially we started getting, we got two local guys here in Austin, the Tacker Brothers, they jumped in first. And they're great kids. They really legitimized the whole thing because if we'd pick certain athletes like just B-team guys straight away, it's already looking a bit dodgy. But we've got some legitimate athletes, especially the under 80 kilo divisions full of. One is two or three guys. That's the best people in the world in that weight division. And as we started to grow our roster here, what happened? I'm going to say this allegedly for legal reasons, is that the first move ADCC did.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Very considerate to the flow grappling streaming platform, I believe, to have also a free alternative on the same weekend. And the brilliance of this whole thing is I was largely criticized for not knowing anything about business, but the people criticizing me decided to host a tournament, a 15,000-seat arena. They decided to take sponsors. They decided to use a stream platform with sell subscriptions based on the athletes that would enter it, but not give any of the talent, the athletes a contract, which gave me this beautiful position to basically say, hey, what do you prefer the prestige of an ADCC gold medal or money? And that's the fused so far. And we put that out into the world. I didn't chase too many athletes down. Obviously, a lot of these guys really need money. So you throw a million dollars out there. People are jumping on board.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sees my true identity and he wants to provoke it's trolling for a good course Basically, we were able to find Thomas and Mac Event Center, which was their original venue, and it just so happened to be available that same weekend, which we're very happy about. So we booked that out. We decided to, ADCC pays $10,000 to the winner. We were like, you know what? We'll pay $10,000 plus one to show up. So to show up in our event, you're going to get paid more than to win ADCC. And not only that, we're going to broadcast it for free. So on Meta, X and YouTube, you'll be able to watch this event for free.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's an expensive, expensive venue. So we argued a bit on the internet and he said, hey, if you don't Why don't you go get $2 million and put on your own tournament? And I said, I might just do that. And one of my anonymous friends kindly donated a $3 million budget and I actually messaged him before the show to say, hey, we won't reveal your identity because obviously anyone that has money is going to get asked for more money or ask for money from others. So he wants to remain anonymous. But he basically just said to enjoy the trolling aspect of it and also contribute to the sport of jiu-jitsu.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that audience continues to grow, and those will be the people that largely watch ADCC events like this. So I simply said in response to a lot of fans asking me, are you going to do ADC? And I just simply made a video saying, no, probably not. Probably not. It'd be nice to make some more money. And then I listed a bunch of sports, such as cockpile that you get paid more to win cockbar. In the villages of Kazakhstan, the payment structure is higher. I received a very aggressive response, not from any of Sheikh Tanoon's people, but from basically who runs the event today. One of those guys amongst giving me death threats said, hey, T-Mobile costs two million dollars. You don't know what you're talking about in terms of business and production. And he's probably right. But to me, two million dollars a waste of money for a jiu-jitsu that I don't think we're at that level yet. Like that's where the UFC host events. You know, two million dollars.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Many ways to expose yourself. You know what I mean? That's just one of the platforms to do so. My problem was that they announced that they were going to go from Thomas and Mac to T-Mobile, which is a jump in quality of stadium, but not a significant jump in sort of seating. So we've gone from like 11,000 seat arena to, I think, a 15,000, 16,000 seat arena. And I knew that flow grappling would have had to pay more money because now the sport's growing so much. And I can personally kind of track the growth of the sport through selling instructional DVDs, instructional online products, because that keeps growing. And we're targeting those white and blue belts vulnerable to internet marketing.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I did a lot of fans were asking me earlier in the year, they said, Craig, you're going to do ADCC. And I said, That is a big commitment of time, energy, expenses on steroids to get my body ready for a tournament that I'll probably lose. And if I lose on day one, I make zero dollars. If I lose in the final, which I have done a couple times, I only get $6,000. I think third place is $3,000. Fourth place is $1,000. So if you make day two, you get paid. But for me personally, seeing ADC 2022, you're looking out to a sold-out crowd of like 10,000 people. It's on flow grappling, which you know pay quite a bit of money for the streaming rights. I can't comment on what that number would be. And then you go home despite having put in all that effort with only six thousand and they're basically the argument is you're paid in exposure.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The mission has always been first and foremost increase athlete pay. So ADCC has invested a ton into the sport. Obviously, I mentioned Sheikh Tanu. Sheikh Tanu has done so much for the sport of grappling, particularly no gig grappling. So he's growing it. He has funded this for a very, very long time. But we've kind of hit a point since 2017 where the audience, the crowd watching live and at home behind a paywall has grown considerably. We had things like Meta Morris, we had the Eddie Brother Invitational Polaris, all these sort of professional events that have also contributed to growing the sport and obviously people like Gordon Ryan have definitely increased the popularity of the sport. But the payment for ADCC has never gone up. Despite, again, the growth of it.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I just felt like he's very authentic, wasn't afraid. Like, this is something I had trouble with when we first started doing the travel show. It's easy to do a travel show if you only say positive things about a place. He would find a very creative way to show what's good and bad, a very honest reflection of the play. So that's something I would strive to do. However, in some places, it's very difficult. You know what I mean? Like, for example, Kazakhstan, if I were to say something negative about Kazakhstan, they'd be like, who's this? An idiot talking about our culture. And I think that was what was incredible about Baldane is he could talk about both the good and bad of places and he would do it in such a way that it was tasteful and was respected by the locals.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Do some good as well. We've done a lot of damage to Bali, so give back to local communities. We have an Australian there that runs an academy academy Christos. He's one of the guys we're donating a portion of the ticket sales to from our event, but he basically went straight into a Balonese slum, started teaching Jiu Jitsu on a mount under a tree, and then slowly through donations, built a gym. And his real focus is not just taking money from people and gifting it to them to help the community, but to teach them skills. So he'll take a lot of the disadvantaged kids and he'll teach them things like photo editing so they can get that work from the internet really. Incredible guy.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He was looking at what he did with food by showing the very interesting characters in the food culture, the food industries, especially with street food, and building around that. So I'm trying to look at Jiu-Jitsu like a giant cult. Scientology isn't starting with Planet Xeno. It's starting with John Travoda and Tom Cruise. So if we can create a documentary travel series highlighting the diverse, interesting people that participate in the sport, in that sense, I hope we can grow up. But also doing some charity work along the way. Like as we'll release the Indonesia barley episode pretty soon. But as an Australian, I do do a lot of damage culturally around the world. So I'd like to...”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, only wear this now. That is for the Gabby match. I mean, yeah, we're trying to do a documentary series because the way I see it is I want to grow the sport of jiu-jitsu. This sounds funny to say now because I'm doing a tournament, but everyone tries to do it through competition. But as we know, most Jiu-Jitsu Jims we visit, a very small percentage of people compete, let alone compete regularly. You'll go to gyms that could be brown or black belts that don't know many of the big-name competitors. So my thoughts were we're never going to grow this sport by competition. We're going to grow it by peeling to the large majority of people that do it, which are just people that enjoy it for the benefits it provides to them, whether health or psychological. And obviously many people inspired by Anthony Board Aim.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a target, yeah Flamboyant. If you come on the mats with something, paint could paint gay or something, people are circling in fast. Especially in Eastern Europe.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Like to think with some of the aggressive clothing choices I've made and sold in the sport that that should be a beacon that that person is. Hopefully some talent because they're fearlessly provoking the other party there.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“100%. Even like Sheikh Tanun, who started ADCC, I know when he went to the US and he studied there, he would train at a very simple gym. He wouldn't declare who he was. I watched a documentary produced about sort of the story of Shaykh Tanun and how he studied in America basically in anonymity. The people at his gym didn't know who he was in his country and he trained there. He trained with them for years, cleaned their mounts like anyone else. And then they didn't realize who he was until he said, hey, I want to invite you to my country. But he actually meant, basically as royalty, come and then they realized who this guy was and the significance of him.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Lucky in a circle. That's kind of like because this film project we're working on is kind of focused on that because of the history having jiu-jitsu and traveling and doing seminars and just getting access to strange experiences from the local, strange in a positive way and participating in those experiences. That's what I sort of wanted to focus this travel show on was the community of jiu-jitsu people around the world kind of Really has no sort of ethnic background, religious background, even level of wealth. As cheesy as it sounds kind of a good equalizer on the mats and that community camaraderie sort of knows no limits”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That would have been an outside of the top. Luckily for me, most of the places I travel to gives me access to so many different individuals. It's super bizarre. Like oligarchs, royalty, I guess tech wizards, just a strange group of people like a cult around the world of just, I get strange access just for being good at wrestling dudes.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think most of the guys tried to keep it pretty positive. You know what I mean? Like some people did think that maybe if Trump was elected, he wouldn't continue to fund it, but they really try to stay optimistic. Most of the people I spoke to really try to remain optimistic that they would be protected if it comes down to it. But obviously there was a nine-month period where they weren't refunded. So as that stretched, obviously they refunded now, but it takes a lot of time to get that equipment back to the points at which they need it. So, I mean, if ammunition had ran out, Patriot Defense System had ran out. Really, really sort of scary prospect there. I don't know what's, I guess no one knows what's going to happen there, but.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of a case by case basis, one of my friends, Dimitri, over there who transijitsu into Jim, he was very passionate about it just because of the history. Like he brought out documents of his grandfather being executed by the USSR. So I know that when the war started he basically took a bicycle helmet in his AK-47 and went out into the streets and he's like, I'd rather be dead than live under Russian rule again. So I mean very. Case by case basis sort of personal history for them, I think.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Resupply weapons. So it was a very different feeling in the air there of concern over what was going to happen, but they still remained quite optimistic that no matter who got in, they felt would do the right thing. But in terms of prolonged war, most people think it's going to go for a very long time, like the children's hospital that just was bombed in Kyiv. Anytime there's a moment like that that reignites everything. And I think it happens on both sides. So I know that there was an attack in Crimea. It was an attack on a beach, I guess. And I don't know if that attack in the hospital was retribution for that, but that's sort of the energy that is felt like they might have battle fatigue. But when something happens to civilians, especially kids on your side kind of reinvigorates the energy to fight for as long as necessary.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, I think it would be a soldier by soldier basis. I know each of them had a different perspective. I remember I would ask him about in terms of US politics and their fears, because the first trip I went there, US hadn't agreed”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The range is ever increasing. One of the battalions in Ukraine, because those FPV drones have short range, pretty short range, but they were able to attach it to one of the larger drones with a signal booster so they could potentially go up to 30, forty kilometers into the distance. So the drone that hits you could be flown by someone so far away from you. And if they did that domestically, that would be very frightening to think of the sphere of where it could have come from.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, it's crazy with what happened to Trump. I thought maybe the next attack on a public figure might come in the form of drone technology, some sort of something along those lines. I wonder how they protect against that here.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, I mean, surreal. When we went to Kurson, he was like the entire sky is just full of drones at any given time. They could decide to come and attack. So just they could just sit there forever waiting, waiting for you to come out of that boom. They'll wait a long time when someone goes and hides inside, or potentially if it's open window, flies straight through the open window to get people”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That would be wild because I mean, they do those crazy drone light shows where they do those performances with the lights and stuff. So they're already pretty sophisticated with sort of pre-programming.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, both sides use it. I remember I was with Roman in Marseille and he had his break period. He was allowed to leave the country because he basically volunteered to join the army. Ukrainian men can't really leave Ukraine right now. But Roman, I was in Marseille, and this was a surreal experience for him. We went to the beach and there were some tourists there flying a drone and you just saw his instinctual reaction to that drone sound in the sky, flashback to that.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Obviously, they don't have the budget for these crazy elaborate massive giants. I did see some higher budget, bigger drones over there, but for the most part, those FPV drones is really how most of the battles are fought. And you're seeing the cameras on them. So you can see like basically kamikaze drone will chase someone down and they have that footage. And that's what the police chief said to me when he gifted me one of the drones they used and he basically said he's like artillery is scary, but a drone will follow you into a building. It's like kind of a haunting thing to think about. Like they'll see the drone, they'll hear the drone. They might try to shoot it down or they might try to run. But if it's a kamikaze one, those guys are pretty good at flying them. It's going to chase the soldiers down. A lot of soldiers like pretending to be dead, it's really crazy. Some of the footage out there of those FBV drones.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so I mean, basically, like a $300 to $500 drone, I think it's like carbon fiber 3D printed, and they can attach different forms of weaponry to it, whether it's just dropping a frag. They could drop a mine out of it. I know they were talking about how they had a liquid that could basically burn through sort of a lot of cars and tanks. So the person inside would basically melt alive, which sounds horrible. But what's mind-blowing to me is you could have like a $3 million Russian tank that could be destroyed by a $300 drone, which is just crazy how fast the war changes. I think they're kind of the world leaders in budget drone technology.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Everything from most countries is basically supplied. All the good quality standard equipment they'd need is just supplied by the government. But in Ukraine, obviously funding is very stretched. So these guys to have the best equipment, they have to basically find money to pay for it themselves. And they'll do that by seeking donations. Best way to get donations will be to go social media profile. So that's when you see a lot of sort of social media warfare from a perspective of gaining fame to secure donations for their battalion, to be able to fight better or protect themselves. And also some of the social media warfare, I guess, is psychological warfare against the enemy. See, like private telegram groups where they're showing what they've done to the enemy, what the enemy's done to them. It's just crazy.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, in terms of the weapons, America provides weapons. So we saw a wide selection of weapons. Some of those would be old Soviet weapons, like obviously the RPG we shot and what we shot out of it is all Soviet. It's very old weaponry. And then you've got US weapons that have been given as well. But in terms of the basic soldiers' equipment, like if they want good quality stuff that might be the difference between them surviving the winter or the summer just in the extreme temperature range, like they have to pay for that all themselves. So they always joke about when foreign soldiers come over to train them or they a lot of foreign soldiers come to learn about sort of the drone technology they've developed on a budget is they always joke with them about how like”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, like Japan was coming for Australia, I guess, in World War II. They attacked the North, but really there was no. Foot battle, and there was no soldiers on the ground within Australia, I guess the US too during World War II, so it's like a completely different perspective Our recent histories compared to if you were Ukrainian and there's Russians within the defiant border, their responsibility to protect their homeland and their family is just something you can't imagine, but also after having spent time with them, you can see why they feel such a strong sense of obligation to protect Ukraine, protect their family and friends.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Ukraine, like from my perspective, anyone from Australia or US, It's just a different perspective on those, they feel different to the regular people fighting in Ukraine from my perspective.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To change me, I guess just realizing a lot of these soldiers are just like you kind of distance yourself from them thinking that they're something separate. But really speaking to a lot of the Ukrainian soldiers, like my friend Roman, he hadn't lived in Ukraine for eight years. He lived in France. He had a life. He's got a wife over there. He's got a daughter. He basically volunteered to come back to protect his mom and brother who still lived there. So it's like you sort of I used to view them military guys because in Australia and I guess in the US they don't have this conscription ongoing right now. You know what I mean? Whereas obviously there's guys like Roman who volunteered but then there's a lot of Ukrainian soldiers that were conscripted into the war. So it's like you just realize how a lot of these guys are everyday people are just in this crazy situation like where Roman felt obligated to return to Ukraine.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Almost likely. It was just so destroyed. I think at this point, most of the civilians are gone I saw a lot of just elderly people left behind, especially a lot of old men. And I just think they're just like, hey, I've lived here my whole life. I'm just never leaving. No matter the level of danger, those guys just remain. And then it's largely just, I guess, military curse on. But that place felt very, very dangerous. I didn't realize until we got there just quite how destroyed it is.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Marching into certain death at certain locations and based on the radio transmissions, they know they're going to die, but they head forth anyway, straightforward into a Ukrainian position, which is just wild to me. I guess World War II, they just keep throwing troops at it. And you see a ton of footage they take themselves, which is mind-blowing. Obviously, some of this footage doesn't make it to the internet because it's got important sort of details in those conflicts, but like they're showing first person perspectives of trench warfare, just crazy to see what some of these guys have gone through.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, sort of the battle fatigue, you know, and as they say, all the heroes die early, you know, the guys, the real heroes that are willing to sacrifice themselves, they're the ones that are going to get taken out quick. Unfortunately, that's the reality for him over there, but their thoughts are mostly that it's going to be a prolonged war, like when I ask them about how fast the front line moves, they're like, oh, it could take six months to move one, two hundred meters. So it just feels like it's going to go on forever. And from the Ukrainian side's perspective, those guys talk to me about how when they hear radio intercepts of Russian soldiers marching to the same front line spot is that basically”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Be like, what is he doing on the front line? There's no real good explanation for it. But I mean, even through the jokes and stuff, it's good to highlight what's actually kind of happening over there. You know, it's obviously very, very bad.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we could take the photos. I don't know if they didn't wait the full 10 minutes or if we took too long, but they started firing at the targets anyway. And then the ricochets were flying very, very close to us over our head. One landed right by my leg. We're like shit, we better get out of here. Obviously not much safety concerns at that point, but we survived basically artillery strikes, we survived a bit of friendly fire with the bullets coming our way. But again, I was strangely calm because the other guys were calm. But then afterwards, they said to me, they were like, oh, if you got shot, we'd just have to dump your body at a hospital. We wouldn't be able to explain why you're here blowing up cars.”
2024-08-14 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #439 – Craig Jones: Jiu Jitsu, $2 Million Prize, CJI, ADCC, Ukraine & Trolling · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source