The Sevan Podcast - #251 - Nick Rodriguez

Episode Date: January 4, 2022

Fight recap and preview. "The Black Belt Slayer", Nicky Rod, is coming fresh off a win and set to take on Elder Cruz on the WNO stage. The match is January 21 in Dallas, TX. Follow Nicky Rod - https://www.instagram.com/nickyrod247/ The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Watch this episode https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC59b5GwfJN9HY7uhhCW-ACw/videos?view=2&live_view=503 Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FanDuel Casino's exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling, winning, which beats even the 27th best feeling, saying I do. Who wants this last parachute? I do. Enjoy the number one feeling, winning, in an exciting live dealer studio, exclusively on FanDuel Casino, where winning is undefeated. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem?

Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. This episode is brought to you by PC Optimum. If you like a curated playlist, why not try a curated grocery list? With Swap and Save, the new feature in the PC Optimum app, you'll get PC Optimum's best price for your grocery items. Simply add products to your shopping list in the app, and it'll show you similar items at a lower cost. Add coffee to your list, then swap it for one that's cheaper. Craving chips? The app will suggest some on sale.

To get started, just open the app. It's as easy as that. See the PC Optimum app for details. Bam, we're live where's everybody damn twitter's still not working an error occurred on twitter this is usually temporary wait a moment and then try again what this happens at the beginning of every show now i'm going to i'm not trying I'm removing you a remove does, uh, I know Travis, I wonder if he is going to be in the bathroom again. I hope he is. Hey, um, I wonder if, if Joe Rogan's, uh, that, that platform

that Joe Rogan's pushing a getter is going to have, if you're going to be able to live feed on it, that would be awesome. Let me see. I sent, uh, I sent Nikki a, am I allowed to call him Nikki? I sent Nikki a link. Uh, it says 13. I sent it to him 13 minutes ago. Um, got a text from my mom. Oh, I'm going to the nursery with my mom today. That's cool. that's cool. I'm going to get chicken poop at the nursery today and a lawn fertilizer. It's been raining in California for like, uh, feels like weeks, weeks and weeks and weeks, which is cool. And, uh, they tell us we need the rain. And, um, so that's great. But I, but I feel like i should be like opening up bags of chicken manure and throwing it under trees so that rain can start making that tea and push those nutrients down to the roots i think that's how it works same with the lawn fertilizer what should i put on my lawn

does anyone know good morning good morning ashley i um i don't think there's a mat this morning. It's just me. It's just me. It's just me. It's just me. It's just me. Dang, Ashley, you look strong. That looks, I don't know, what is that, 165 on the bar and you're in the snatch grip? More?

More than 165? I apologize if it's an insult. We have Nicky Rodriguez on the show today for the second time, or at least I'm claiming he's going to be on the show. Nicky is, his claim to fame is hard work, and showing up on the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu scene a couple years ago and just handling his business and making a name for himself a young guy i want to say 24 25 years old let me see if i can show you some pictures of mr nikki before he shows up oh no you don't even you i don't even have to say it. What's up, guys?

Live from the bathroom. Yes. Best acoustics in Austin right now. What's up, dude? What's happening, guys? Good morning. You're here. You're back.

Back again. What's going on? I've been courting you since the last time you left the show. Yeah. How does this look? Looks fine? Dude, you always look good. All right.

Thank you. And you sound good, too. Good to hear. Good to hear. Let's not mess around. Let's just dig right in. Okay, guys, I want to show you something. I know you guys have all started following Nicky Wright.

Is it okay to call you Nicky? Yeah, yeah, it's cool. Since he's been on the show last i know you guys have been following him like crazy uh oh nikki you didn't put in your uh instagram right hold on let me fix this hold on hold on is it tell me what it is i'm gonna i'm gonna fix it on here nikki rod 247 at nikki rod 247 no underscores or anything? Nope. No, sir. Bam, there it is.

So this is how big Nicky is. This is another grown man in his B-team studio. And Nicky, what it looks like to me, I don't know, shit, accidentally picks him up. No, that was on purpose. Sure. Just a little guy shooting on me. By accident, okay. By accidentally, he did the right thing by set him down to let him fight another day.

Instead of throw him against the wall. So why is that important to show you this? I'm going to show you guys now. Okay, hold on. It's important to show you this because I want to show you this guy that Nicky went up against on December 30 30th this guy's name is steve maury i think i'm pronouncing it right this guy is 10 and 0 as a professional fighter and he's six foot eight and i want to say he what did he weigh in at 238 or no 238 i was like 230 something i think it was like a 250, 255, something like that. So is this pretty tense right here? No, no, maybe, maybe for him. When we had face-offs, people like to look me in the eye and I never really look people in the eye because I feel like it makes it personal.

and I never really look people in the eye because I feel like it makes it personal. I just look at their eyebrows because it's just like another, they're just a thing in front of me. You know, it's not really like a, just a job to do, you know. I don't really try to intimidate people or anything because I feel like those are just like

kind of tactics to scare people. Try to let my skills do the talking. Is he, is there a weight limit for this match yeah 255 is a weight limit but normally i compete with no weight limit um you know i've had guys 300 360 380 uh any anyone this uh tall um i have had i've had uh one guy 6'7 before, so this guy was like an inch taller. But I've had training partners that are 6'8", 6'9". So I'm adapted to that kind of style and that body type. Okay.

And when they offer you this fight, what is Fury? Has Fury 3 been around a long time? What is Fury? Fury is pretty much brand new to the grappling scene. It's something that's associated with UFC Fight Pass. And I think the UFC Fight Pass kind of UFC in general kind of understands that grappling is the next like the next sport to blow up. So I think they're trying to invest in it because it's a way to help their help their fighters gain popularity before they even step into the ufc cage and is that why they're

getting people like uh that i'm seeing people like phil rowe and serroni and stuff like that do that are they paying those guys to do that or those guys are interested in it to test their skills or what's going on with the crossover yeah i would think those guys would be scared they would hurt themselves like why would this guy who's 10-0 go against you and risk getting like something broken off? Well, I think the money is good. I think a lot of these guys fight for, you know, maybe like $5,000, $10,000, $15,000,

and they probably make, you know, like this guy probably made $5,000 or $6,000 just to do a grappling match. He's like, it's not even close to the same risk, and he's getting maybe half of his pay, so it's not a bad gig. Free trip to Philly, get some good food and some good rolls in. I think it's a healthy way for these fighters to keep getting paid in between fights and not take too much risk. Grapplers get hurt here and there, but it's not,

not nearly the risk that the fighters take. So I think it's kind of a, kind of a solid compromise that these guys make. When, when they reach out to you, I'm assuming someone, someone calls you from fury and they say, Hey, we have a match. Do you even like need to know who it is? Like, when do you say yes? Oh, as long as the money's right, I say yes. There's no one out there you won't go against? No.

That's your weight class. Yeah, it's my weight class. Bigger or smaller, I don't like to call out smaller guys just because it looks bad on me, but honestly, the smaller guys are usually the tougher matches because they're better endurance. They're forced to use better so like a bigger guy like somebody that's six eight you know he's going to just be a lot slower uh yeah he'll be you know pretty strong but you know

we'll wear her down early and then they'll put it on him later on in the match he wasn't goofy no no god he was a solid athlete he was you know big strong and and you know he knows he knows how to move his body so i know he's going to be you know definitely definitely not just a pushover yeah and and you see a lot of big guys like that in the ufc and you're like man it seems like they're almost desperate for big guys because they are goofy yeah yeah for sure they got a few a few serious uh heavyweight athletes but um also have some, some that probably shouldn't be there. Um, any, any intimidation, what did you say? And some probably shouldn't be there.

Uh, I mean, so some heavyweights, uh, you know, I think, I think in every way class, you have a few, a few people that are just, uh, just kind of there to take some losses and help, help produce other fighters. Ouch. So look at this guy. This is the guy you can go to flow grappling and get UFC fight pass. I re-upped I'm a huge UFC fan, but I kind of a drop fight pass and I re-upped my fight pass just to watch

Nikki fight. Look at this guy. He went up against this guy's the real deal man this guy is the real deal 29 years old 6 8 10 and 0 that's that's not uh that's not easy and that's not easy in that division because people go to sleep like in a moment's notice in that division yeah i think it's a it's good way for like like grapplers like me to make you know connections with these fighters because long term i'd really like to produce some some ufc champs so you know for for other fighters especially heavyweights to kind of feel what i'm capable of

and say like okay if i can you know develop these skills from a guy like nikki then you know it'll make my time in the cage a lot easier so it it's definitely a good, it was a good match and was a good display of, you know, my capabilities. I want to tell you guys also one thing about this Fury thing. So I, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I am more of a, I'm definitely a UFC fan. Had a lot of fighters on the show. I am more of a Nikki Rodriguez fan, probably because my kids do jujitsu. Then I am a jujitsu fan but this fury thing these

this is a great show it's like match after match after match they had paul felder commentating he's like one of my favorite he's cool as shit he's calling it like it is and and when you were there did it seem like it was a well-run event like the just the matches were just folding out yeah it seemed like uh all the matches were well set up. There wasn't too many more matches. Everything was high intensity. I feel like when you have fighters going against fighters and fighters going against grapplers,

there's like a... They're out to... I don't know. I feel like fighters just kind of push the pace a little bit more. They're accustomed to the faster pace, the trying harder. So you don't have these two guys sitting down trying to sub each other it's constantly like clashing of the titans so it made it really fun to follow from the launch and then yeah you have uh guys commentating like paul fielder and guys like

cn punk you know on the mic as well so it was really really good and i think it's uh i think events like this really helped to grow the sports popularity and And I'm going to show you guys the match. I don't know if I'm allowed to, but I don't care. This is a slow motion version, and we can ask Nikki what's going on here. But when this is going on, too, if no one submits anyone, right away the judges – you guys just walk right out there, and the judges just tells you who's the winner, which is also super cool, right? There's no fucking around. Yeah, no. there's a judge's decision if there's no submission and those and they put their hand up is their hand like who they choose they have they have the wrist the judges have the wristband on their arm i was having trouble figuring that out how

does that work like the judges like raise their hand and then somehow the guy in the middle knows who won how's that work yeah i think it's a best two out of three. So like there'll be three judges. They either raise the green hand or the red hand and, you know, whoever's got two, they win. And the judges don't sit by each other. They're on, like,

they're around the mat, right? Yeah, I think they're on the corners or on a separate table by themselves. And, um, I was going to say a few times, in almost every match, there's this fear that some dude's going to get tossed off the mat, especially when you went with this giant dude. Yeah, there's definitely a mat space issue. In most competitions, it's hard to get enough mat space. Flow Grappling definitely has probably the most substantial amount of mat space. I talked to the guys at Fury that I think they're going to try to spread it out a little bit more just because big guys like the heavyweights, one or two movements and we're pretty much off the mat.

So, yeah, we definitely need a lot more mat space than the average grapplers if you're a heavyweight. There was definitely some professional courtesy going on between you two that was the only thing that stopped one of you from getting tossed out into the crowd uh yeah yeah i mean yeah it happens i mean you gotta be aware of the mat space you know just the same way this guy's you know i'm sure he's aware of where he's at in the cage you know we gotta have an understanding of foot placement placement or whatnot okay here we go check this out guys so so so this is like something they just teach right here i don't know what this is called but i see them teaching my kids this from day one they've been in jiu-jitsu three years this move you do here what is this where you pull the guy down on his face yeah this shit's considered a a snap down and i set it up early on in a match with some hand fighting wearing him out wearing him out a bit uh so the type of hand fighting i did was enticing him to put more forward pressure towards me and as

soon as i felt that pressure his weight was on his toes i was able to snap him down and then immediately go for the body lock and then start passing guard and switch to the back when possible hey um i this is gonna sound kind of mean i see I see my little boy who's 50 pounds does this move to the fat kids. Yeah, that's good. Usually the fat kids will try to run at you and squish you. So this is definitely the move that you want. And it seems like they're just kind of off. Like their center of gravity is off, fat people.

Yeah. Unless they're on all fours. Yeah. If you're a little thicker,'s uh kind of easier to snap you down like i had a match with a guy like orlando sanchez he was like i don't know 360 380 pounds when we competed and i was able to snap him down to the mat um you know fairly easily just because whenever he did try to rush in towards me he has so much momentum it's hard for him to stop a snap and they got that gut like hanging over in the front it's like holding like a weight in the front yeah yeah exactly it's kind of helping your uh your snap down yeah it's like hey you want to find you and then this is just all rudimentary shit you're using on him right

this is just like knee on belly yeah i mean i body like past, I body like past, uh, you know, I, I, uh, I'll have my body like passing DVD coming out soon. And I switched the knee on belly. He goes, uh,

he goes to the side, try to gain height on the elbow. I switched to the back. And then once I got to the back, I was able to win the hand fight there and secure my renegade choke over the face. Um, say that again. You have what coming out soon?

A DVD on what yeah body lock passing dvd it would be uh helping people to acquire the body lock and complete the body lock from different different positions typically it'll be from a double butterfly where you have a body lock right in front of your opponent but they have two two kind of shallow hooks on the inside of your thighs will also be practicing be practicing body lock passing from half guard, which is really important because if you fail the initial body lock pass, a lot of guys like to pull half guard while you still have your hands locked. So it's a good definitely need to know how to do both.

What should he have done here? Should he have just pushed your knee off of you with that left hand of his? He couldn't because I'm pinching his hand with my elbow. So right here, I'm really just waiting for him to spaz a little bit. Usually when I put guys down in this position, they'll wait a couple seconds. They'll try to explode a little bit. So I'm just really waiting for him to try to hip up as he does right here. And as he hips up, I try to slide that knee across the belly and get him out.

And, yeah, I mean, he didn't do anything wrong per se. I just understood all the movements that he was going to do before he did them. So it's a knowledge game, man. Jiu-jitsu, like, it's good to be fast, explosive, and athletic. But if you have that one up on the knowledge department, then you're able to kind of predict everything that's going to happen. Are you guys both soaking wet right there? Yeah, yeah.

We're dripping in sweat. I mean, two or three minutes into a match, pushing somebody around, you're going to be absolutely soaked out there. The heavyweights are just soaked. Yeah, for sure. And look at this right here. Am I seeing this right? There's like no wasted space when you,

when you bring that knee over, like you're like, I mean, there's, there's no, you're just slight. Look how small you get right there. Fan duel casinos,

exclusive live dealer studio has your chance at the number one feeling winning, which beats even the 27th best feeling saying I do. Who wants this last parachute? I do. Enjoy the number last parachute? I do. Enjoy the number one feeling, winning, in an exciting live dealer studio, exclusively on FanDuel Casino, where winning is undefeated. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem?

Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure? We'll help you breeze through security. Meeting friends a world away? You can use your travel credit. Squeezing every drop out of the last day? How about a 4 p.m. late checkout? Just need a nice place to settle in? Enjoy a room upgrade. Wherever you go, we'll go together.

That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. Yeah, from here, I like to connect my knee to my elbow. So there's no ability for my opponent to create space or get a knee or elbow in between us. So yeah, I like to, when I'm on top of somebody i just glue myself to them you know there's no there's no space at all he wants space so he can bridge you can explode and get out i eliminate all that

space and unfortunately this slow mode doesn't um it doesn't show it but there is a he does put up more of a fight and um and i know you you you put something – you made a video with the Bruce Lee audio over basically with this clip basically saying that you were flowing like water. Did you feel just incredible here as he's trying to get away? Were you just like, hey, no panic. You'll just go wherever he wants it to go, but be ready for submission? And what were the other options for submissions, or did you know the whole time it was going to be rear naked choke i was pretty confident it was going to be rear naked choke because he's a fighter fighters usually want to get back to their feet and um it's hard to get back to your feet without exposing your back so i was just really enticing

him to try to force turtle and try to stand up and as he went to turtle i had that clip on my instagram he goes a turtle i was able to slip in a long hook and short hook along with a chest lock, bring him down to the mat, and then secure him over and make a choke. So it's kind of like a you-go, I-go situation. Like I bodylock pass. I wait for him to explode a little bit. Then I go to knee on belly. And then he reactively goes to elbow.

And then I start switching to the back. Then he turtles and tries to stand up i put boots in so it's like i understand if i'm if you're able to understand the next move of your opponent then it's easier for you to set up what's going to happen later on guys these are big dudes and then and then you know you i watch the ufc and they're like oh he's he's got it in deep no he doesn't have it in deep. No, he does have it in deep. I mean, it's like clearly from anyone who's watching here, you don't even have it in, but he don't want none.

Is this because he doesn't want you to – like what could happen? Why does he tap so quickly? Because he doesn't want you to put him out for eight months with a broken jaw? Yeah, yeah, that's what happens. If I have the choke over the face, like right below the nose, I've had in practice for a few times where guys don't tap in it and they'll break their jaw and it's definitely just it's no need to be you know waiting out of competition for uh a submission like that so yeah it's good it's good that you tapped you know we don't want not try to injure guys like that

so so right here and then how tight are you right there oh I, I mean, it's tight. You know, it's definitely – I'm putting probably 40% or 50% pressure on there because I thought he was going to take longer to tap. But, yeah, again, I mean, if you don't tap, the jaw just breaks and it's just not a good day for him. That's interesting that you say 40% or 50% pressure because in the past I had asked you, Hey, when you go for those submissions, like what's the plan? Like, like just you wait for the guy, you look at the guy and you don't pull and you like, you give him a chance. You're like, no,

everyone's just going in there to just break off limbs and shit. But here you were being a little, you didn't just go from zero to a hundred. Well, uh, when you go from zero to a hundred, you tend to burn yourself out. Like if you hit the, if you hit your you hit your max squeeze or your peak, you can only go down from there. So I like to build up. If I get a submission over the face, generally it doesn't put the guy to sleep as fast. So I understand I might have to squeeze for 30 seconds, a minute or so. So once I get that on there, I like to gradually increase the intensity of my squeeze

and i go right away and try to try to go max out because if he feels that max out he's like oh like i can kind of hold on a little longer and it makes my job harder so i like to just give him a little squeeze and then gradually increase it as we go just a little squeak and he can't even breathe there either i mean his mouth is closed and his nose is going next. Yes, yes, exactly. So why release on DVD? Why not a download?

Like who does DVD anymore? Well, I mean, it is a download. We just call it DVD. You can get a physical DVD, but most of it, pretty much all of it is downloaded on BJJ Fanatics. Okay. And that's who you do it through? They're kind of like the agent for all the people who do all that stuff? Yeah, yeah. They have a pretty

wide fan base, and they have the proper marketing scheme, so it makes it easier for the athletes like me to sell a bunch of DVDs. An entrepreneur like you, that must like, you must hate that. I mean, I can, I can do it however I want. Like if I wanted to sell DVD solo and keep, you know,

a hundred percent of the profit, then I could. But I think giving a company like, you know, fanatics a little, a little cut just makes my life easier because they help market. And ultimately it's about numbers, right? I have, I see fighters, even Instagram influencers, that sell workout DVDs or downloads for $10, $20. It's like, I can charge $200 for a DVD and sell 5,000 in 12 months. And because of this platform, I can keep on selling and making as much as I want.

Yeah, that's awesome. Is this your first DVD? And because of this platform, you know, I can keep on selling and making as much as I want. Yeah, that's awesome. Is this your first DVD? No, no. I have, I think I have four out right now. But this will be my first, like, mainly jujitsu DVD. Like, previously it was wrestling and lifting. Now I'm focused on the body lock passing. So this will be my, definitely a step in the right direction as far as my coaching and my teaching goes um before i go into a few more questions uh you guys if you want to see him

go again live which you do it is it is cool they're short they're very aggressive matches um he's going against a guy named elder cruz on on January 21st is that on the same, will that be on UFC Fight Pass 2? no this will be on Flow Grappling and I'm pretty sure it's live out of Dallas, Texas oh where was this one that you did? in Philly did you fly out there?

yeah I flew out there I had a seminar the day before, had a seminar the day after competition, now i'm back in austin yeah your instagram showed that um the the guys were teasing you basically like oh shit right typical nikki rod day after the fight he's back in and we're training again oh yeah nuts and and there's no chance what what if you would have gotten um uh what if you would have lost or you would have got injured you still would have done the class you'd just like fuck it like you wouldn't need

time to lick your wounds or lick your ego or any of that yeah i mean if if you lose you definitely don't need to mispractice that's that's the time you should be in there uh what questions do i have tim kennedy is he training at your gym um he hasn't enrolled like a train with us jujitsu but i've been working out with tim um here and there doing some crossfit stuff and surprising how um how high level of an athlete he is like as far as uh endurance and and just his capabilities like how hard he's able to push you know when training it gives me gives me a that, or like an understanding that I can compete at this high level for a long time. Cause a guy like Kennedy, you know, he's not in his prime anymore.

And the guy works really hard and he's able to kind of sustain that, that athleticism and that, uh, that work ethic for, you know, over the years. So, um, I think I'm able to, I think I'm going to be able to grapple at this high level for, for many years to come. And yeah, I mean, guys like Kennedy just kind of reassure me that I'm on the right track for that. Gabriella, did I work with you over at CrossFit? There was a young lady there who did jiu-jitsu.

I wonder if you were her, a Brazilian lady. Anyway, how does Nicky keep his joints healthy? My knee kills after putting someone in a body lock. Um, I take fish oil. I don't know if that helps or not. Um, but I haven't taken fish oil for years because I feel like it's a preventative, uh, you know, preventative measure, preventative maintenance for, for your body. But, uh, I don't know when I buy like pass, um, I don't really have any issues i mean i'm pretty flexible and i'm pretty i know exactly where to put my body so maybe maybe you're just uh doing it you know not not the correct way but um yeah i mean i never have any issues or joint issues at

all so fish oil maybe you're doing it wrong don Don't be a pussy. No, he didn't say that. They described you as not flashy or explosive in the write-up at Flow Grappling. I think you're flashy and explosive. Is that just because I don't know shit? I don't know what flashy – what do you mean? uh like i don't know i guess back in the day like before i knew jujitsu really i would do like car rolls and stuff so maybe they mean that by being flashy and explosive um but now yeah now i'm just focused on the technical aspect of uh of jujitsu i like to be i like to beat people with my knowledge as opposed to just like you know manhandling

them right away so maybe that's what they're referring to. How do you, I'm going to see if I can find it here. There's some, there's a handful of videos. If you go to Nikki's Instagram, where he is, the masks are just like, they're like slipping slides. Oh, here, maybe here's one. So how hot is it where you guys are training? Oh, it's pretty hot.

I mean, Austin gets warm inside that gym when you've got 30 guys on the mat. It's pretty hot and sticky in there. But, yeah, I mean, some of the mats that we compete on are pretty slick as well. So, like, you know, especially because they have graphics and sponsors on the mats, it makes it just harder to grip. So, I mean, it makes it an easy transition because our grappling mats in the gym are kind of slick and slimy as it is. Yeah, and so how often do you clean those?

Is that like multiple times throughout the day? Yeah, yeah, after every class we clean them. Yeah, that's nuts. And is that a big gym? I mean, we have like maybe 3,500 square foot of mat space. And if I go to your website, let me see if I can find this. Okay, so those of you who want to see more, you can go to the bteamjj.com. Where's the beginner class, Nicky?

Yeah, we don't have any beginner class or like, uh, or white ball classes. Um, pretty much you have to be pretty decent grappler to get, um, accepted and train with us on the regular. We don't have, um, like most of our students are that train with us. They train like twice a day, every day. So it's very dedicated group and we put a lot of time and effort towards getting our guys uh to the next level to that high level um it doesn't mean you have to be a competitor but we want you there you know we want you there most of the week

we we want people we want to be surrounded by people that we're friends with and then a group of people that works hard and enjoys the sport as much as we do so makes makes uh the training that we do every day just just more fun for us i don't mean this in a disparaging way at all but it's basically like um hey do you want to pay to be part of my training camp do you want to pay me to be part of my training camp it's like i've um it's like i had a friend who did a little bit of training with mandy pacquiao and he says yeah dude like dude, like if you can't run, you're not training with Manny Pacquiao. Like you got to run, be able to run 20 miles and, and talk to him at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. We definitely, uh, trying to get the best training partners for,

for us as possible. It's a bit selfish in that regard. Um, but you know, I think it makes, makes for a tough gym like you know there's not too many easy roles in there and uh yeah just try to keep the room as at a super high level um you know there's a ton of people who i i don't think there's anything wrong with it there's a ton of people who want to go through buds you know navy seal training but they don't want to be navy seals yeah and so there's a ton of people i think who who fancy themselves as really good and so they want to roll Navy SEALs. And so there's a ton of people I think who, who fancy themselves as really good. And so they want to roll with Nikki Rod and the team,

but they, that's it for them. And if, and you give them an opportunity to do that, to pay money, let them, you know, strut their shit,

feel good throughout the rest of the day to know that they got to roll with you. But, but they're not going to go in the ring with Steve Maui, Maori. Yeah. We have a, we accept all kinds of droppings. Like if you're just going to go in the ring with Steve Mowry. Yeah, we accept all kinds of droppings.

If you're just going to visit for a day or so, you can be a white belt or a no belt and come check us out, roll with us. But as far as joining and becoming a member, it's a bit of a process. We interview you a little bit. We see what you're about. You see the capabilities and see how serious you are about getting better, and we take it from there. Have you had to ask anyone to step out of the gym yet?

Before we even opened, we had to have people uninvited. So for sure, for sure. And what's that look like? What do they do that makes them seem like they don't have the commitment? Like they're showing up once a week, once every other week, or they're just not the right culture, the right vibe? Yeah, it's a few different things it's like uh yeah the commitment and then and then just uh if your personality isn't isn't um beneficial if it doesn't blend with us well you don't have the

right chemistry for us it's just not gonna work out we're very uh we keep the the vibe in the room extremely positive and and fun like it's i mean'd like to see, I like to see it like we're a bunch of kids, you know, grappling and learning. And just like children, you know, when you're having fun, that's when they learn the most. So we make sure we have a bunch of fun personalities in there along with a bunch of hard workers.

So it's very enjoyable for us to do it every day. You have this line here in your bio on the site. Rumor, rumor has it. He beat Craig Jones the last time they trained. So is that, is that a, um,

indication of the lack of ego between you two? Uh, yeah, yeah. I mean, for sure. Definitely lack of ego, but also,

um, I beat him in the last role. So just wanted him to know that okay but but if what if he wrote that in his are you cool with him writing that in his yeah i mean he can say whatever he wants i'll see him tomorrow right gotcha and are you guys close uh yeah we're calling me my whole team we're pretty tight you know we uh we enjoy each other's company and and hard training for sure and does he say something to you when he sees that um no no no i never said nothing though actually i've said that to him to his face

i had to take some time off i was a little banged up from uh training and uh and told him, I was like, you know, the last time we trained together, I won. He's like, I don't know about that, buddy. I was like, for sure, I won. But, yeah, we have a bunch of – we have a little bit of banter that goes on. You know, they're practicing. It's good. It's healthy. It keeps you on your toes.

Man. What do I have here? It says you're ranked number five somewhere I read that. Ranked with who and what determines that? Yeah, I don't really know what determines that. It's just kind of a guessing game these guys put together. Okay. So it doesn't mean shit to you?

No, no. It's pretty irrelevant because I've beaten guys that are ahead of me. I mean, I think like Cyborg's probably ranked above me. I beat him twice. I mean, yeah, the only way to do it is go out there and beat everybody at the big tournaments. Really, at ADCC, you win that, and you're the best in the world. Besides that, these are just words you can throw in the air. Were you healthy when you rolled with Steve this past week?

Because I did hear you say that you were going to take some time off. I was surprised to see that you had two matches so quickly, one in December and one in January. Yeah, no, I'm good. I'm good to go. I was healthy. I am healthy. And just enjoying the jiu-jitsu life, man. Yeah, that's awesome. Crypto.

Are you doing crypto? I got a little bit. I got a little bit of Bitcoin and Ethereum. I don't know. I mean, it seems weird, but it might be the next thing. I don't know. Is everybody going to adapt to the crypto? I'm not sure.

I don't even know how you have time to even look at that stuff. I mean, I just look at it a couple times a day. I don't know, just peek at it a bit. I mean, I think it's just like, I kind of think the theory of Bitcoin is like having money in the bank.

I mean, you put money in the bank and it just kind of sits there and you gain, I don't know, a penny of interest every year or so. In the crypto world, I mean, you put money in the bank and just sits there and you gain, I don't know, a penny of interest every year or so in the crypto world. I mean, you invest a hundred bucks, you might have a thousand bucks in a few months, you know. So you got to pick the right kind of cryptocurrency. And and I don't know, I feel like I feel like everything's kind of a gamble. You know, you put that you put money in the crypto, it could crap out immediately. But also you put money in the bank account and you could go through the Great Depression again. So who knows?

Right. And shit is getting weird. How is Austin? Are you enjoying it? Yeah, I love Austin. Great food, great people, awesome training. It's definitely home for me for sure. And your girlfriend's happy there?

Yeah, we love it out here awesome dude thanks for coming on uh i really really look forward to your dvd coming out i also look forward to you going up against where's the picture let me see if i can find it uh this guy elder cruz do you have any do you have any concerns about this guy? No concerns, but I'm aware that he's going to be fast, athletic. He seems like a decent wrestler. There's no easy matches that are going to come my way, so I'm going to be

formidable opponents. I'm just excited to go out there and display my capabilities. Because these guys want to make... Getting in there with you does make a name for people now. Yeah, for sure. This guy's a brown belt, and these guys want to make – getting in there with you does make a name for people now. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's – like this guy is a brown belt, and I'm used to competing against the best guys in the world.

And the best guys in the world just aren't accepting any matches with me. So I have to go with guys like this, and that's no problem. A match is a match to me. Wait, what do you mean the best guys in the world aren't accepting any matches from you? Well, like Flo Gravely asked like what kind of guys i wonder i do you know a name of five or ten people that are you know really good tough grapplers big guys my size this guy's a bit smaller and a bit lower level than i'm used to um but uh yeah i'm just gonna go out there i treat treat every match the same. And yeah, I think, I think because I'm, I'm,

I put a lot of content out and I show people like what I'm capable of online. It kind of like, it's, it's harder for me to find a high level match. People don't really want to hop on the mat with me at that high level. It makes them, makes them look bad. And I don't mean it's a bit intimidating for them, but just kind of having fun out there basically you mean a guy new comes on the scene you're how many years you have in jujitsu three years now yeah three years three years and they have uh 15 years and they're undefeated for five

years years or 10 years and they don't want to have it all taken away okay it's like that game highlander or that movie Highlander. Have you seen that movie? Old movie. You would love it. No, I haven't watched it. There's these seven guys on the planet.

I want to say Sean Connery's in it, or maybe Mel Gibson can't remember, but every time they just spend their lives looking to find the other dude to kill. And every time you kill a dude, you get his powers until there's just two dudes left. Sounds like, sounds like my,

my style of grappling. For you, it's DVD sales. so every time you beat a guy you take 20 of this dvd sale very nice oh nikki you're the best uh thanks for doing this dude uh since i had you on uh the podcast has exploded and i i owe a little piece of that to every single guest i've had who's come on here and been cool as fuck like you. Well, I appreciate you guys having me, man. This is a,

you know, anytime. Okay. If I have the time, we'll hit me up. Okay. I will be bugging you around, uh,

Rodriguez and Cruz, um, before, uh, and, and I think we have a good relationship. You hit me up when you can, if you can't no hard feelings.

Um, but I'll, but I'll just keep bugging you, man. All right. Sounds good, buddy. I'll talk to you soon.