"Philippines is where I gave it to people" - BJJ wizard Craig Jones seemingly jokes about being HIV positive over recent staph infection

Few combat sports athletes are as daring as Craig Jones is with humor, as he recently cracked a joke about being HIV positive when discussing his staph infection.

The moment occurred during a training session with Alexander Volkanovski, who he is helping prepare for a UFC 298 showdown with Ilia Topuria next weekend.

Jones was noticeably not grappling on the mats with everyone else, and he indicated that it was due to a staph infection on his left shin. Then, however, he jokingly claimed that he is more susceptible to contracting staph infections due to an immune system weakened by HIV.

A clip of Jones' comment was shared on X/Twitter, with the full video being available on Volkanovski's YouTube channel:

"It might have something to do with the immune issues I have from HIV, but that's a story for another time. Philippines is where I gave it to people, not where I received it. I received it in Perth."

Check out Craig Jones' joke about being HIV positive:

Jones has been a part of the Volkanovski camp for some time now and has helped the reigning UFC featherweight champion improve his grappling. Most notably, he has helped sharpen Volkanovski's defensive grappling, rendering him extremely difficult to control on the mat.

This, coupled with Volkanovski's own tenacity and sheer physicality, allowed him to prevent even the great Islam Makhachev from consistently controlling him on the mat during their first encounter. He did, however, struggle to escape Makhachev's body-triangle, spending several minutes trapped in that position.

---

Has Craig Jones ever won an ADCC World Championship?

Despite being a highly credentialed grappler with a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under the legendary Lachlan Giles, Craig Jones has never won an ADCC World Championship.

However, the Danaher Death Squad member has come as close as anyone can while still falling short of the championship gold.

In 2019, he won silver after falling to gold medalist Matheus Diniz, who bested the Australian on points. Three years later in 2022, he again won silver, this time taking on young Brazilian jiu-jitsu prodigy Kaynan Duarte and losing on points again.