Jeff Curran Invitational 4: Night of Champions to feature six title fights in Crystal Lake

With a 54-athlete fight card featuring both legendary well-knowns and carefully curated next-gens, a tripled purse and a venue with a 1,000-spectator capacity, Jeff Curran knows his next invitational will pack plenty of thrills.

JCI 4: Night of Champions will bring 27 submission-only Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu matches to the mat at The MAC on Ridgefield Court in Crystal Lake Saturday, Sept. 19.

Doors will open at 4 p.m., the pre-show starts at 5 p.m. and the live-streamed matches, including six title bouts, begin at 6 p.m.

Curran is a former UFC veteran, fifth-degree BJJ black belt and professor of the Curran Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Crystal Lake.

Curran, whose career now includes running nationwide camps and retreats, as well as starring in and producing a YouTube series called “The Martial Life,” said in a news release that he is excited about all of the pairings he has built from the hundreds of athletes who have applied from the U.S. and abroad since he started his invitational in 2025.

Drawing its first international contender of the series to date, JCI 4 will feature Shooto Watanabe of Japan against local fighter Joey Diehl for the bantamweight title. Watanabe trains in the greater Tokyo area and is an athlete with DEEP Japan, an organization akin to a feeder for UFC.

Among the youngest to step onto the JCI mat this September will be Raphael “Rafa” Ferreira of Draper, Utah. He competed in JCI 3 in May, claiming the featherweight title, which he will defend this September, about a month after his 19th birthday.

Also making his second JCI appearance this fall will be Crystal Lake Police Sgt. Adam Munaretto.

JCI 4 will also gain an extra camera angle for the free livestream, and, with room for 1,000, will feature more in-person seating capacity than any of Curran’s previous invitationals. Available tickets include everything from $45 general admission spots to a front-row, 10-person table for $1,000.

Learn more about the Jeff Curran Invitational and find tickets at jcinvitational.com. For more about Curran, visit bigfrogbjj.com.