Nicky Rodriguez is one of the best grapplers on the planet but it seems as though he’s interested in taking on a new challenge now, in the form of a boxing match. It makes some sense too, as Rodriguez is pretty early in his professional grappling career and has already stood on the podium at ADCC twice now. Not only would a boxing match be a fresh challenge, but it would also likely pay significantly more than any grappling match he might take in the future. Rodriguez revealed his interest in boxing in a recent episode of the podcast that he co-hosts along with other key members of B-Team Jiu-Jitsu, The Simple Man Podcast:
“I want one of them YouTube boxing matches or MMA fights, that would be cool.”
His co-host Damien Anderson had a pretty interesting suggestion immediately after hearing that Nicky Rodriguez was interested in a boxing match, wrestling superstar Gable Steveson. It’s an interesting proposition, and it likely comes from the fact that Steveson has been open about wanting to face Rodriguez before. Despite that, Rodriguez quickly turned down the idea:
“I wouldn’t wanna fight that guy… I don’t think he’d f*ck me up, but it wouldn’t be an easy fight.”
His younger brother Jacob Rodriguez immediately understood the motivation behind rejecting a fight with Steveson, and he echoed Nicky’s thoughts:
“Why fight Gable when you can fight a TikToker?”
It makes sense too, if Nicky Rodriguez is just looking for a fun boxing match against a popular opponent then there are a ton of more appealing prospects than one of the most impressive athletes on the planet. Rodriguez then gave a better idea of what kind of opponent he was thinking of:
“Anybody that’s like, you know, my size. 215 (lbs) or something like that. Either a TikToker, Twitcher, YouTuber, Bodybuilder with too much confidence, or a f*cking retired like NFL guy or…”
When the topic of celebrity boxing matches comes up, it’s only natural that Logan Paul gets mentioned eventually and that’s exactly what happened here. While that’s certainly more in line with what Rodriguez had in mind, it seems like Paul isn’t quite the right opponent either:
“Yeah, I mean I would, but I would rather be his friend than his enemy… I don’t know, I mean there’s a fine line between that sh*t. I don’t know, some guys can’t come back from hating somebody or something like that.”
The episode of The Simple Man Podcast where Nicky Rodriguez reveals that he wants a boxing match with a celebrity was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of the podcast:
