Nicky Rodriguez has taken a little time out of his busy training schedule to have a fun Sumo match opposite an experienced opponent during his time in Japan. Rodriguez already has extensive experience under a number of different grappling styles and rulesets, as he started out his career as a wrestler before transitioning to BJJ. This wasn’t a proper competitive match of course, it was just an opportunity for Rodriguez to get some sparring in with a veteran Sumo wrestler in his own world.
The only reason that Rodriguez is in Japan at the moment is because he made the trip with the rest of his teammates at B-Team Jiu-Jitsu in order to compete at Quintet 4. Rodriguez had a fun match at the event with Owen Livesey, who is actually a high-level Judo competitor before transitioning to BJJ himself. That match was a great display of the two men’s different grappling styles and although it ended in a draw, they both delivered plenty of action in it. Although Rodriguez didn’t get the win in his match, his team did end up beating Livesey’s Team Polaris and progressed past the opening round.
B-Team Jiu-Jitsu’s success didn’t stop there though, as they also beat Team 10th Planet in the final round and left with the title at Quintet 4. Rodriguez and the rest of the team have clearly been enjoying their time in Japan since the event, no doubt celebrating their big win. Part of that celebration has been getting involved in the local culture, as both Craig Jones and Nicky Rodriguez made the trip to visit several Sumo wrestlers at their training quarters.
Craig Jones uploaded a teaser clip of both him and Rodriguez alongside several Sumo wrestlers, while Nicky Rodriguez uploaded the footage of him having a friendly Sumo match in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
