There’s been plenty of speculation in the past on how the B-Team Jiu-Jitsu name came about and what the ownership structure of the team is, but Nicky Rodriguez has now cleared that up on a recent episode of The Simple Man Podcast. They were hosting one of the most exciting UFC veterans in the sport, Joaquin Buckley, and he asked Rodriguez directly about the name and the history behind it:
“Why B-Team? It’s honestly because our business partner, Craig Jones, is known for taking second in all of the world’s biggest tournaments… Craig was pitching B-Team to us, I sent him a couple of other suggestions… I suggested like American Submission Grappling, or something normal you know? But he was like nah, it’ll sell, it’ll be catchy.”
It’s hard to argue with the logic behind Jones’ decision as well, because the team is still relatively new in the sport but their excellent use of branding has catapulted them to become one of the most popular academies on the planet. Nicky Rodriguez explained that he doesn’t entirely enjoy leaning into the idea that they’re second best at B-Team Jiu-Jitsu, but it comes with it’s benefits:
“It hurt my feelings a little bit, it hurt my ego a little bit to be calling it B-Team but every time I get that cheque from the merch and whatever I’m like ‘alright, we good, we good.'”
The team originally formed in the aftermath of the breakup of the Danaher Death Squad, when some of the world’s top BJJ competitors decided to part ways and stop training alongside one another. While Jones might have come up with the name, he wasn’t the only elite competitor involved in the team. Nicky Rodriguez also broke down the ownership structure of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu, and why he thinks it works so well:
“So who owns the business is me, Craig Jones, Nicky Ryan, Ethan Crelinsten, and we have a business partner as well. Which is nice because not one of us is stuck training or teaching every single day. So we still have time to become the best version of ourselves. I feel like some people get stuck, they open a gym and they have to teach every day. In this sport, and in most sports, you gotta be a little bit selfish so that’s not an option.”
The full episode of The Simple Man Podcast where Nicky Rodriguez opens up about how they decided on the name ‘B-Team Jiu-Jitsu’ and the ownership structure of the academy was uploaded to their official YouTube channel:
