Kendall Reusing’s CJI Criticism
There was a lot of criticism of CJI 2 after the event, and 3x No-Gi champion Kendall Reusing had one of the most interesting takes. Her issue wasn’t with the format, the controversial judge’s decision, or New Wave also receiving $1 million.
Reusing’s main gripe was that the funders weren’t truthful when they said there wasn’t enough money to put on more women’s brackets. Initially, Craig Jones stated that there was only enough money to have one women’s bracket for $100k.
However, after the disappointing day one, there was enough money to give $ 50,000 submission bonuses to entice the men’s competitors. Additionally, after the event, another $1 million was given to New Wave, as some felt they had been robbed.
Kendall Reusing noticed this and posted the following message.
“Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that NW got paid the 1 million, but CJI said there wasn’t money for more women’s brackets… but when they messed up, they dropped the money on the $ to save face.
That’s 3 $300k women’s divisions right there. Then they threw $50k bonuses, but not for the women. The craziest thing is the women had some of the MOST exciting moments this weekend! I’m just saying what people are thinking.”- Kendall Reusing.
Kendall isn’t wrong in her take. The women’s matches were the highlight of the event, and there was, in fact, enough money to add more women competitors than what CJI originally stated.
All four women put on good performances and showed that there should be more women’s matches added in the future. Maybe Craig and his crew will listen when they go back to the drawing board and revamp for CJI 3 next year.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.