The “Battle of the Sexes” on the jiu-jitsu mat got off to a wild start, with a forced kiss during a pre-match face-to-face attack, but ended as most would expect.
Australia’s Craig Jones grabbed and kissed his much larger Brazilian female opponent, Gabi Garcia, in the face during a pre-fight encounter, a move that Garcia … sort of … underestimated.
“Hey. You’re a son of a bitch. Craig, really? Damn it. You crossed the line, you crossed the line, you crossed the line,” Garcia yelled.
“Brazilians can’t stand the choke,” Jones quipped on social media.
What went under the radar was Jones’ choking of the big Brazilian in the second round to earn the submission victory.
Garcia is not only two inches taller than Jones, but he also weighs 30 pounds more, listed at 205 pounds.
So, despite having a size advantage, Jones finished the fight.
At X, the response was immediate.
Jiu-jitsu may not be the best test of a man’s physical superiority in sports. As practitioners of the “gentle art,” it is a sport designed for smaller, weaker opponents. It is rare for a female opponent to beat a male opponent, but it is not impossible.
Craig Jones is a world class Jiu Jitsu athlete.
That being said, over 99 percent of the time, the male side wins.
The battle between the sexes comes after a major controversy over the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) selection of two fighters for this summer’s Olympics, Imane Kherif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan.
Both fighters failed the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) gender test in 2023. Both Kheriff and Yuting won gold medals in their respective weight classes.
