Jacob Rodriguez is one of the most exciting grapplers around right now, and he recently revealed that he wouldn’t be taking any PEDs until after he is done competing in BJJ. It’s a principled stance from the young competitor and unlike athletes in other sports, he doesn’t even need to make that decision. BJJ is well-known as one of the combat sports with the least amount of testing, and many competitors go their whole careers without ever being tested. Rodriguez’s biggest achievement so far came when he won a silver medal in the under 88kg division at ADCC 2024, a tournament that is famous for not testing.
Although the topic of discussion is a pretty common one in BJJ anyway, Rodriguez’s older brother Nicky has actually been accused of taking PEDs in the past. He’s not alone of course, plenty of other elite competitors have been accused of taking PEDs. To his credit though, Nicky Rodriguez actually voluntarily took a test and passed it without any issue. Very few competitors actually profess to be natural athletes and have the ability to prove it as well, so it’s not surprising that his younger brother might take a similar approach to the sport by competing as a natural athlete.
Jacob Rodriguez was asked about whether or not he’d take PEDs at any point in his life and he was pretty clear that it was a non-starter for as long as he’s still an active competitor:
“I’ll never use while I’m competing… I don’t know about after competition but never during competition.”
It’s refreshing to hear such a high-level no gi competitor take this stance, particularly when some of the best no gi grapplers in the world have been open about their usage. This can often give the impression to younger athletes just starting out in the sport that they might need to take PEDs in order to reach that level. That absolutely isn’t the case though, and there are several elite competitors who‘ve found success while remaining natural athletes. Rodriguez and others like him are actually vital for the future of the sport, so that the next generation of athletes have positive examples to follow.
The full episode of The Simple Man Podcast where Jacob Rodriguez vows not to take PEDs while he’s still actively competing in BJJ was uploaded to their official YouTube channel:
