After the success of Nick Rodriguez at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 4, it made sense that the next match for the B-Team superstar would be Gordon Ryan. This islogical, with the only other real matchup having any sort of fan interest being Felipe Pena vs Rodriguez. However, with no real personal beef between the two, Ryan vs Rodriguez is clearly the contest that would draw the most eyes.
The short rant from the New Wave posterboy began after Gordon Ryan was asked about a drug tested match between him and Rodriguez. Ryan responded to the question with this strange rant which has somewhat of a God complex about it:
“First of all, no, because steroids are not illegal in jiujitsu, number two, I actually have a contract coming to Nicky Rod, for USADA and WADA testing from now until the next ADCC, so interesting to see if he’s gonna sign that. Like I said, I make the rules. I name the time. I name the place. I name the rule set, because I’ve earned that.”
The fact that Gordon Ryan thinks he can not only organize rulesets, but also drug testing in his own favour is nothing short of bizarre. Wanting Nick Rodriguez drug tested from now until the next ADCC is extremely strict and goes well beyond normal drug testing policies.
With that being said, does Gordon Ryan actually have a point? In general, BJJ does not really draw much spectator interest. Without a doubt, ADCC goes against the grain, as does an occasional hyped-up promotion. But for the most part, much of BJJ promotion is based around false personalities which are extremely transparent.
The general public is simply not interested in double guard pulls, 10 minutes of collar ties or stalling inside a closed guard. Not to mention, if you haven’t trained any sort of grappling, many of the positions are so foreign that it is impossible to understand what is actually happening. In short, people want to see submissions.
As a result of this, Gordon Ryan is somewhat correct that he is the only real draw when it comes to grappling, so he can in fact set the rules. This will not go down well with people who do not like Ryan, or think that his ego is out of control. But when looking at the interest surrounding the 3 time ADCC champion, the numbers don’t lie.
Charles Vieira
Charles Vieira is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu brown belt. He has travelled the world extensively training on 4 continents.