Nicky Rodriguez recently revealed that he seriously considered competing at ADCC 2024 immediately after he won the over 80kg division at CJI. Although the two events went head to head over the same weekend, there was no actual crossover in the broadcasts or clashes between matches. Not only did this mean that fans could actually watch both live, but it was also physically possible for competitors to enter both. Obviously the fierce rivalry between the two promotions meant that this was incredibly unlikely to happen anyway, and not many competitors would be willing to go through that many matches with so much on the line in such a short space of time.
Rodriguez apparently is one of the few that would be willing to do so though, and he explained his thought process in a recent interview with FloGrappling. He was initially asked about the experience of winning the over 80kg title and a million dollars at the inaugural Craig Jones Invitational and it was clearly a fantastic experience:
“Winning CJI, becoming the world’s first Jiu-Jitsu athlete to win a million bucks in competition, was a phenomenal step in my career… I really like tournament play because you have such a build-up and then kind of an explosion of success once you accomplish your goals.”
He also added the implication that he might be returning for CJI 2 later this year, where he could serve as the over 99kg member of the B-Team Jiu-Jitsu team:
“It was a great event, obviously went my way. I’m happy, I’m grateful for it and I’m excited for the next one.”
There’s no official team roster confirmed for them just yet though, so he may well be attending as a fan or even competing in a superfight instead. Nicky Rodriguez was then asked if he wished he could have entered ADCC 2024 at the same time as CJI:
“No, because we got so many more views. Like you saw the YouTube got like almost four million views between the two days so that was absolutely incredible.”
Although he was clear that he made the right choice, Rodriguez then revealed that he considered attempting ti get a place in the ADCC 2024 absolute division on the final day:
“I gotta be honest, the moment I finished my finals I was looking at my phone. I was like, I was about to text Mo (Jassim) like ‘hey you should let me do the absolutes tomorrow’. But I was like, how tough would that be to go three days in a row and you kinda sleep s***ty between days because you’re subconsciously anxious for the next day. I was contemplating that until like 3am, and then I was like ‘alright I’m just gonna go to sleep, it is what it is.’ but that would’ve been epic right!?”
FloGrappling uploaded the interview with Nicky Rodriguez where he discusses the moment he considered doing ADCC 2024 after winning CJI to their official YouTube channel, and his upcoming match at WNO 27 will be available to watch live on FloGrappling, click here to subscribe and watch.
