This article on Nicky Rodriguez and his million-dollar challenge to Gordon Ryan is part of our Craig Jones Invitational 2024 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
Nicky Rodriguez has just become the first person to ever win a million-dollar prize for a professional grappling competition and he immediately issued a challenge to Gordon Ryan during his post-match interview at the Craig Jones Invitational. It was an incredibly bold move, but it was clearly something that had been on Rodriguez’s mind during the build-up to the event. Rodriguez came in with a laser-focus and tore through every grappler who stood in his way in the stacked over 80kg division, sticking to a perfect gameplan in every match. He worked his standing grappling well, used the bodylock to pass, exposed the back, and finally locked up the rear-naked choke to submit every single one of his opponents.
After winning all four matches over two days and being awarded a briefcase with the million-dollar prize inside, the first thing that Nicky Rodriguez did was make the following statement to Gordon Ryan:
“The only thing better than one million dollars is two million dollars. So let’s do this… I want a bet match, Mr. Gordon Ryan. Because I know it in my bones that I’m the absolute best grappler on the planet. So let’s do this bubba, my one million vs your one million, winner take all bet match. Come get some, and let’s do it live on B-Team Jiu-Jitsu YouTube Channel. I’ll see you guys there.”
It’s far from the first time that Rodriguez has challenged Ryan and in fact, he issued a $100,000 public challenge that went unfulfilled before. Although they used to be training partners back in the days of the Danaher Death Squad, the issues between the pair have been public knowledge for quite some time now. That led in to their first match in the final of ADCC 2022, where Ryan was able to get a quick submission win to take home the gold medal. They didn’t have to wait long at all for a rematch and just a few months later, they met at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 3 and Ryan won by fastest escape in EBI overtime.
With his incredible performance at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational, Nicky Rodriguez made a clear statement that he was one of the best grapplers in the world and the million-dollar challenge to Gordon Ryan is a great way to prove that. It remains to be seen whether or not Ryan will accept the challenge of course, but he originally made a name for himself through high-profile bet matches so this is exactly the kind of thing that might entice him into a third match with Rodriguez.
The full Craig Jones Invitational event replay, including Nicky Rodriguez winning the million-dollar grand prize and challenging Gordon Ryan to a bet match, was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu:
