Nicky Rodriguez is one of the most successful no gi competitors in the world, and he recently shed some light on why he doesn’t compete in either the gi or IBJJF events. It’s not uncommon for someone to specialise in either gi or no gi of course, but the majority of grapplers do compete in both. Likewise, even though some high-profile competitors have sworn off IBJJF events, they are still the biggest promotion in the sport by quite a wide margin. They stage dozens of events all around the world every year and the four major gi and no gi events that they produce routinely attract the very best BJJ competitors.
Rodriguez recently sat down for an interview with MMA legend Demetrious Johnson and when he was asked about the idea of competing in the gi, he explained the reason why he doesn’t very quickly:
“There’s no money in it, I knew that early on. I only did Jiu-Jitsu so I could get paid. I mean I loved it, it was great fun and I think if I was doing anything then I’d want to be training Jiu-Jitsu.”
Although Rodriguez loves the sport, getting paid takes priority if you’re doing it as a career. He also explained that it was his very first coach that set him on the path to being a no gi specialist:
“When I started Jiu-Jitsu I recognised, well Jay Regalbuto actually told me ‘look, these are the guys that are making money’ and it’s all no gi guys. I was like ‘well, let’s take this thing off.’”
Rodriguez has never actually competed in the gi before, and his experience with it was incredibly short-lived really:
“I showed up, first Jiu-Jitsu session was on Wednesday and it was a no gi day and the I just started showing up to the gi class in no gi. People would take their gi off to roll with me. I did a couple of gi sessions but the second I started competing, like two weeks in I did a comp, and it was like yeah, no gi is the way.”
Although he’s never competed in the gi, Nicky Rodriguez has done IBJJF events before and even won an IBJJF No Gi World Championship as a blue belt. Despite that, he clearly doesn’t see himself ever doing that again:
“The IBJJF stuff is confusing because there’s really talented guys that compete there but they pay money to compete… These guys are paying money to compete, that’s not a professional program.”
Demetrious Johnson shared the interview with Nicky Rodriguez where he talks about competing in the gi and at IBJJF events to his official YouTube channel:
