Gordon Ryan has reignited the debate around pay equity for female athletes in the sport. In a series of social media posts, Ryan dismisses the notion of equal pay between men and women, citing various factors that he believes justify the existing pay gap.
Ryan was triggered by a post made by Ffion Davies a while ago. In her post she argues for more financial opportunities for female professional grapplers.
Davis wouldn’t be the only one to shade flograppling for lack of financial compensation. Earlier this year, Craig Jones put flograppling on blast for refusing to provide accomodations while Nicky Ryan basically does free work for them – promoting the streamer and the sport.
Unlike the majority of players in the space, Ryan is rewarded handomely for his effort. He inked an unprecedented 7 figure deal to compete on flograppling events – which wasn’t even exclusive. Ryan also sells a series of excellent instructionals which have netted him a substantial amount of his income.
At the crux of Ryan’s argument is the claim that top female competitors are neither as physically strong nor as technically proficient as their male counterparts. “The best women currently and in the past aren’t as physical and aren’t as technical as men. You can cry all you want, but that statement is a fact,” Ryan asserts reacting to our post.
Ryan contends that pay in jiu-jitsu should be determined solely by revenue generation and audience draw, rather than gender or accomplishments. “You are paid contingent on the number of asses you put in seats. It’s not based on medals. It’s not based on sex. It’s based on how much revenue you generate,” he states.
He followed that up with several other posts arguing similar points.
BJJ community has a mixed reaction to Ryan’s strongly worded opinion. It’s interesting to note that he’s likely not conisdering Mackenzie Dern a superstar despite her sizeable social media following. It’s very interesting to see Ryan identify Gabby Garcia as the last huge superstar in BJJ over a proven competitor of smaller stature like Dern or a proven technical player like Bia Mesquita.
