Nicky Rodriguez scored a victory over Yuri Simoes at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 last Sunday night (Dec. 10, 2023) at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, and used his post-fight speech to issue a $50,000 challenge to longtime rival Gordon Ryan.
“Gordon Ryan is walking out right now, I’ve been trying to get a match with him for quite some time,” Rodriguez said. “He’s had his issues in the world of jiu-jitsu, accusing me of steroids. I think it’s time I make him a proposal, a challenge that is hard to refuse, so let’s do this: One match, same rules as here. 10-minute match, five-minute OT — but with a catch. I’m willing to put up $50,000 to say I will beat you in this ruleset. $50k each, $100,000 on the line. May the best man win.”
Ryan, who spent the better part of 2023 sidelined with health issues, was in attendance for last night’s grappling festivities after withdrawing due to a rib injury. The 28 year-old super heavyweight was unimpressed by the offer after previously registering two wins over Rodriguez (with one submission).
“No,” Ryan bluntly told reporters about the latest offer (see the previous challenge from Rodriguez here). “Nicky Rod and that whole team make their career off sound bites from me. So, no comment. Not interested in that at all.”
Ryan is expected to make his return in early 2024 and faced off with another longtime rival, Mason Fowler, during the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 festivities (see that video here). Not surprisingly, Rodriguez was disappointed in Ryan’s response and suggested the no-gi “King” might be afraid to lose under his specific ruleset.
“I’m giving him an offer, I’m betting $50,000 of my own hard-earned money to say that I’m better than you,” Rodriguez explained. “$100k, winner take all. Gordon’s the kind of guy, he used to do bet matches. On his come up, he was betting guys 10 and 20-thousand dollars to say that he’d beat them and that’s kinda what I’m doing, I’m taking the same concept. He was betting guys back in the day, now I’m doing it on a bigger scale in front of millions of people on UFC Fight Pass. I’m putting up $50k of my own hard-earned money. He puts up $50k. $100k, winner take all. I don’t see no downside to it besides him losing.”
“Unless he’s scared, unless he knows he’s going to lose the match, that’s the only reason he wouldn’t accept it,” Rodriguez continued. “I know that he’s avoiding me. He does not want a match against Nicky Rod. His favorite ruleset is ‘Oh, let’s do a no-time limit match so we can get somebody to quit or to concede.’ Bro, this isn’t an NBA game. We don’t have four quarters like a football [game], you know what I mean? Let’s make it 10-minute, 20-minute match, whatever, let’s have a match and get it done.”
Here’s the full video:
Expect these two to cross paths at some point during the ADCC 2024 tournament next year in Las Vegas.