While the promotion cancelled their planned live stream of the event, the CJI 2 European Trials pressed on Saturday in London.
Three slots to the Craig Jones Invitational 2 (CJI 2) were originally supposed to be awarded at the event. Two tournament winners earned their spot at Team Europe, but after Craig Jones’ surprise announcement, the invite for the third tournament winner was disrupted by a viral Neanderthal and German MMA fighter.
Pawel Jaworski, Paul Ardila win CJI 2 EU Trials
Interestingly enough, while B-Team and Team Australasia just picked up prominent Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) stars outright for their roster, they made the American grappler Paul Ardila earn his wild card placement in the CJI 2 European Trials. The four-time ADCC Trials winner did just that, beating Taylor Pearman and Mohammed Avtarhanov to earn the slot at 88 kg.
The second tournament winner to earn a slot at Team Europe’s roster was Pawel Jaworski. The Polish grappler beat Ellis Younger and Tom Barry, to win the four-man tournament at 77 kg and earn a for CJI 2.
The trials event didn’t use the trademark CJI pit, and there were also several chaotic matches on the card that went out of bounds.
Viral MMA “Neandrathal” Frederic Vosgrone crashes CJI 2 Trials
Marcin Maciulewicz won the four-man tournament at +99 kg, and also happened to land the only submission at the entire CJI 2 European Trials event. The Polish BJJ champ still didn’t receive an invite outright though.
Craig Jones flew in Frederic Vosgrone to the event to crash the event, and apparently Maciulewicz will now have to face the viral German MMA fighter for that final slot at heavyweight.
Vosgrone is a German BJJ black belt and 4-0 MMA fighter, who has gone completely viral after his debut at Oktagon 69 last April. Aptly nicknamed “The Neanderthal,” he made the rounds on social media for looking like a cross between Brock Lesnar and Paddy Pimblett, and for that chaotic fighting style that saw him with a death grip on his opponent’s legs.
While Vosgone went viral during his MMA career, his high level background is in BJJ. He’s a former Polaris tournament champ, and has grappling wins over ADCC Trials winner Taylor Pearman, and UFC fighters Reinier De Ridder and Tom Breese.
Full results from the CJI 2 EU Trials event, and the current Team Europe roster are below:
CJI 2 Team Europe roster
66 kg: Owen Jones — 2023 ADCC Trials winner
77 kg: Pawel Jaworski (CJI 2 EU Trials winner)
88 kg: Paul Ardila (CJI 2 EU Trials winner / Wild Card Pick)
99 kg: Charles Negromonte — 2024 ADCC Trials winner
+99 kg: Marcin Maciulewicz (CJI 2 EU Trials winner) or Frederic Vosgrone (Polaris champ)
Coach: Faris Benlamkadem
CJI 2 European Trials Results
-77 kg tournament
Pawel Jaworski def. Ellis Younger by decision
Tom Barry def. Yigit Hanay by decision
Finals:
Pawel Jaworski def. Tom Barry by decision
-88 kg tournament
Taylor Pearman def. Ben Bennett by decision
Paul Ardila def. Mohammed Avtarhanov by decision
Finals:
Paul Ardila def. Taylor Pearman by decision
-99 kg tournament
Marcin Maciulewicz def. Tom Bracher by decision
Heikki Jussila def. Philippe Geyer by decision
Finals:
Marcin Maciulewicz def. Philippe Geyer by submission (reap)
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