Gordon Ryan is ready to stop hearing about Craig Jones.
Australia’s Jones shook up the professional grappling scene when his first Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) event went head-to-head with the world-famous Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) earlier this month (Aug. 18, 2024). For most within the community, CJI was viewed as a massive success and a welcome alternative to ADCC. Ryan, however, is none too pleased with this continued push in a different direction from his longtime rival.
Ryan, 29, took to Instagram with a proposal today (Weds., Aug. 28, 2024). Not only is Ryan interested in getting his hands on the always outspoken Jones, but he wants to take on “Nicky Rod” Nick Rodriguez after the latter’s million-dollar callout on YouTube.
“I will say this once and only once. To nicky fraud and can’t win a comp craig- since you both have my [eggplant emoji] in your mouth 24/7, I have a few proposals for you. We either do 2 matches on 1 night, both of you either put up 500k or 1 million each, and I’ll put up 1-2 million, depending. We both compete in the same night,and winners take all. If one of you is too [cat emoji] to accept, I’ll face one of you for 1m vs 1m, which I think is comical seeing as the fact that NF is gonna have to pay roughly 350k I taxes. I know pea brain has never made 7 figures in his life, but after taxes, you have around 650k left, maybe 700 if you’re lucky. After putting at least 20% down on your million dollar house, I would absolutely be willing to bet you don’t have 300-350k cash on hand laying around to put into escrow, which means you’ll have to secure a sponsor to front you that money, and seeing as I’ve beaten you both a total of 5x, including 4 Submissions, good luck on that. Matches will not be left up to judges, will have minimal ref interference, and thus will be no time limit, submission only. Athletes will also be required to wear long sleeve rash guards and spats (with a no roll up rule) since 4 people have already accused you of grease (mason, pena, me, yuri). Competition will take place when I’m healthy, if I’m healthy and on a date and platform I decide. Until then, keep dreaming you’ll ever be anywhere near my level after beating guys who can’t make it out of the 1st day at ADCC. If you don’t respond here or publicly, I take this as a no, and I will not respond after this unless I get a clear yes or no to this response. I’m not negotiating. I am the king, you follow my rules, or you shut up. And before you bet your new found “wealth”, make sure you’re not gonna default on an irs payment and end up in jail or homeless, because only one of us has a million to blow, and we all know who that is ;). This is mostly a message to NF, bec we all know Craig’s the ultimate can crusher and wants absolutely nothing to do with any kind of physical confrontation with me. Well, at least craig will be at the academy helping you prepare for the camp just like he did for cgi and adcc… oh wait…”
With the gauntlet thrown down, Jones and company replied briefly under Ryan’s post by saying: “You’ll do what you’re told.”
A match between Ryan and Jones wouldn’t be their first encounter on the mats as they famously squared off at EBI 14 in November 2022. Ryan ultimately won in overtime, forcing the tap from Jones via rear-naked choke. Nicky Rod has also encountered Ryan, battling him in the 2022 ADCC World Championships when Ryan scored a heel hook victory.