Robert Drysdale was recently caught up in a lot of controversy when ADCC head organizer Mo Jassim accused him of match fixing during his ADCC world championship-winning run in 2007. In the revelation, Jassim stated that Drysdale actually participated in a co-ordinated effort with two other competitors in order to ensure that he had a guaranteed place in the final of the absolute division against Marcelo Garcia, and had used as little energy as possible to get there. This was actually corroborated by one of the athletes who had allegedly helped Drysdale reach the final, Andre Galvao, who he defeated in the semi-finals just prior to the final match with Garcia. Galvao made the following response when questioned by Gordon Ryan about the match being fake:
“Because it was. I fought a teammate! As i said, I got penalized by ADCC. Even after getting double (bronze) they made me go back to the trials in 2009. Guess what? I went back to the trials. I fought it and I won 7 fights… No easy path for me only for you.”
Now, Drysdale has publicly responded to the allegations and referenced the fight with Galvao specifically in doing so. He explained that stylistically he had the advantage over Galvao and actually beat him regularly, although it’s worth noting that he made no mention of Galvao’s statements in his response:
“I have never fixed a fight. In those days, Galvao did not score an advantage on me. It’s a style thing. I competed against Andre 3 times and I tapped him three times. It was the same in training. I’m not bragging.”
The video interview with Robert Drysdale where he responds to the allegations of match fixing levied against him by Gordon Ryan and ADCC head organizer Mo Jassim was uploaded to the official YouTube channel for Aces Jiu Jitsu Club:
