Tim Spriggs and Gordon Ryan have gotten into a heated exchange on social media that looks like it might be leading up to a future match between the two competitors. The back and forth started when Spriggs posted to his social media in celebration of his amazing performance at the WNO Championships that saw him take home the title despite being an underdog from the very start. Not only did he defeat Haisam Rida and Aaron ‘Tex’ Johnson on his way to the final, but his heelhook finish of reigning ADCC 99kg+ world champion Kaynan Duarte was a thing of beauty.
It seems as though the final comment about ‘Gordon’s dubious choice in opponents’ provoked a response from the 2019 ADCC double champion. It was a clear reference to Ryan’s upcoming appearance at a WNO event where he will take on UFC Welterweight competitor Philip Rowe in an exhibition match. In a response that Gordon Ryan submitted in the comments, he hit back hard and even referred to Tim Spriggs as a ‘failed athlete turned failed podcaster’:
“I will start with a congratulations. Just when I think kaynan can’t suck any more, he always impresses. Second, since you and your corner man were wearing face masks in the bleachers, but would take them off to grapple and take photos, I can only assume your iq is too low to even understand the following statements, but I’m sure the fans will enjoy. Funny you call me out now, after I said I am not healthy to compete in high level matches matches.”
“I guess it must be because you understand that to me, you’re basically an exhibition. You’re a failed athlete turned failed podcaster. Your career achievements put you in a position to wash my clothes (maybe). I’m not kaynan, and this won’t be close, regardless of my physical issues. You make fun of my opponents, but I’ve beaten more adcc medalist than anyone in history. The only reason you’re not on that list is because not only can you not medal at adcc, you can’t make it passed the 1st day.”
“Once I am healthy, even a little better, im happy to compete against you. Free money’s the best money. And let’s be honest, you can lie to me, to your fans, but not to yourself. You’re doing this not because you think you can win, but because you want a quick pay check, which will be the biggest super fight check you’ll ever get, facing me. If you were smart you’d actually just retire, because your brand will never be bigger than it is now… but we have already established, you’re not smart.”
This initiated a short exchange between the pair and Spriggs declared that he was more than happy to take on Ryan in an exhibition match, and used the fact that Ryan has never competed at a high level in the gi as a mark against him:
“Thanks for the congrats @gordonlovesjiujitsu I appreciate it. It’s not funny that I call you out at all after you said you’re not healthy enough to compete in high level matches. As you said I’m A FUCKING HOBBYIST TRAINING THREE TIMES A WEEK. So which one is it? A couple days ago I was a hobbyist and today I’m high level? Since you don’t want to compete against a high level grappler until you get healthy I will respect that.”
“I’ll work on a match against @galvaobjj. The only failed jiu jitsu career is yours. Let’s be honest, you can lie to your fans, you can lie to me, but not to yourself. You know you quit competing in the gi because you knew you couldn’t win at the elite level. All of the real jiu jitsu competitors do both and never quit one for fear of losing. The jiu jitsu representatives never quit, there have been bjj world champs in the GI that have also won ADCC. They are the real GOATS.”
“I will admit that you have done great in no gi. But if you answered the above question that I’m still a hobbyist (which I am) then I’m ready to get our exhibition match going. I agree with you that it will be a big check 💴 If all of the sudden I’m no longer a hobbyist I understand”
In the final response, Gordon Ryan put forward a potential date of December for a match with Tim Spriggs and clarified that he has never claimed to be the greatest BJJ competitor of all time. As he explains, he’s only ever claimed to be the greatest no gi grappler of all time and he doesn’t care about gi competition as a result of it’s lower levels of popularity:
“@timspriggsbjj well, you are a hobbyist and you are “high level”. But to me, being high level to the public doesn’t mean anything to me personally. Most high level guys suck lmao and wait, did you just the only failed jj career is mine? I’m the greatest of all time without the gi from a statistical standpoint and I made more money sitting in the bleachers watching your bad jj that weekend than you did from winning the whole tournament.”
“Can you point out where the failure is? Are we still talking about the gi? Literally no one cares about the gi lmao I never claimed to be the goat and you know that. I am however, the no gi goat. We can 1, do a full match when I start to get better, or 2, do an exhibition in December with the same rules as @phillyfreshufc. I’ll let you start on my back, I’m trying to market an escape series anyway 😘”
