The ADCC Silver Medalist kicked off a social media war with his former teammate after an appearance on Mark Bell’s Power Project Podcast.
ADCC champ Gordon Ryan accused Nicky Rodriguez of greasing following their match at Fight Pass Invitational 3 last December.
“The moment he started sweating, he definitely was lotioned and the lotion came out. I couldn’t get a hold of him. He was so slippery,” Ryan said.
Now, the ADCC silver medalist and B-Team BJJ coach has responded to Ryan’s accusations in the latest episode of Mark Bell’s Power Project podcast. Rodriguez outlined his tumultuous relationship with his former teammate, and unpacked his claims that he lathered up with grease before their match to make himself harder to grab.
“If you ever watch Gordon, he’s got a ton of excuses,” Rodriguez said.
Describing his loss to Ryan at the past ADCC, Rodriguez focused heavily on leg lock defense and leg entanglements ahead of the Fight Pass Invitational tournament. After Ryan’s supperfight opponent Vinny Malgalhaes dropped out, Rodriguez was picked to replace him and rematch his old teammate. Rodriguez looked much more confident in the leg game this time around, and managed to allegedly break Ryan’s foot in regulation before losing a close overtime battle.
“We’re in 50/50, his home ground, this is where he hits home runs. And I’m able to win this leg entanglement where he’s best and I’m worse and break his foot,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also brought up Ryan’s admitted steroid use while claiming to be a natural athlete himself.
“His biggest thing is steroids,” Rodriguez said. “You can’t gain 50 lbs of muscle and be like, ‘Ah, it’s irrelevant.’ No, it’s super fucking relevant… I definitely wouldn’t have even called him out on it, but it just kinda irked me a little bit that he’s like, ‘Oh, this guy’s fucking greasing.’”
In response, Ryan took to his instagram page to post a series of takedowns regarding Rodriguez’s natural status, the greasing allegations and his competitive record.
“He is on camera admitting to greasing multiple times, I’ve seen him before competition grease up multiple times, and I purposely wore a long sleeve rash guard at ADCC for ONLY ONE MATCH because I knew he would be greased,” Ryan claimed. No footage of Rodriguez admitting to cheating was provided.
Ryan compared Rodriguez’s physique from a 2021 interview with FloGrappling to his look supposedly on cycle. “Can you explain to the fans please how in one photo you look like a fat dad who used to play hs football, yet now has a left titty, and in the other photo look like Arnold getting ready for Olympia?” Ryan asked.
Further salting the earth, Ryan posted screenshots of Whatsapp chat groups between Rodrigues, FloSports matchmakers and himself to highlight Rodriguez’s apparent disinterest in a match between the two from as early as April, 2022. The posting of these screenshots apparently violates a promise of privacy made by Ryan himself in the screenshots. Ryan has also posted upwards of 30 stories on the matter, reposting memes made by fans as well as adding more insults of his own to the pile.
Since the dissolution of the Danaher Death Squad team in 2021, this represents the most openly hostile interaction between former members post-breakup. Wayward members like Rodriguez, Craig Jones and Ryan’s brother Nicky have gone on to form B-Team BJJ in Austin, TX while The Danaher faithful reformed into New Wave BJJ also in Austin.
Rodriguez has yet to respond to Ryan’s latest comments.