Talking to Ben Askren, John Danaher was asked about the possibility of Gordon Ryan entering MMA and why Gordon Ryan claimed he was retiring from grappling in 2019. Danaher claimed his ‘retirement’ was merely trolling, but also added that “Grappling is at a pivotal moment” with regards to financial input into the sport. Mentioning Gordon Ryan, he also claimed “Its individuals who start revolutions…if Gordon Ryan went to MMA, I feel like that would be a loss.”
Danaher went on to say “My dream is to create a situation 20 years from now where young grapplers don’t have to go to MMA as they can make more than enough money from grappling…right now we don’t have that. If you look at 99.9% of grapplers in this country are flat broke. I’m not going to mention names but there’s been some sad things with people I know from grappling who have had terrible injuries over the past 3-4 years who couldn’t even afford to have medical operations and had to rely on the generosity of others and these are ADCC champions. How screwed up is that?, you win an ADCC gold medal, get your ACL blown out and can’t even afford to fix yourself, that’s got to change.”
Askren responded by saying that around the Olympics, he was earning $30,000 per year and was one of the top wrestlers in the US, proving how little grapplers can earn in terms of their skill level. It’s no secret that Gordon Ryan has made a small fortune from BJJ and is probably the top earning grappler in the game right now. With this said, hopefully, Danaher’s vision for the future comes true and others can earn a healthy living from the sport.
