In the latest development of an ongoing sponsorship dispute, jiu-jitsu star Gordon Ryan has released extensive evidence to clear his name and challenge claims made by his former sponsor, premium footwear brand Toehold.
Ryan, widely regarded as one of the sport’s most accomplished competitors, shared multiple screenshots of conversations with a Toehold representative—referred to as “dirtbag ag”—to counter allegations that he demanded retroactive payment for wearing the brand’s gear.
“People can call me many things. One thing they can’t call me is a liar. I have receipts for EVERYTHING in my life, and if I’m attacking you, it’s definitely your fault,” Ryan stated in a recent social media post.
The evidence trail begins with messages dated March 19, 2024, showing the sponsor allegedly encouraging Ryan to wear Toehold gear in his instructional videos. Subsequent exchanges on March 27 indicate promises that payment would begin “the SAME day” Ryan left his previous sponsorship contract.
Ryan’s evidence also highlights his efforts to support the brand, including facilitating a substantial $15,000 order for rashguards and shorts from an associate on March 30. This directly counters claims that the products “sold ZERO” units, according to Ryan.
Ryan shared a video of toehold founder saying the following:
“Around the time Future messaged us and says that they’re going out of business, Gordon’s like,
“Hey, I canceled my sponsorship with Future. You need to pay me for all the months I’ve been wearing your rash guard.”
And I’m like, “Wearing our rash guard, where?”
He’s like, “I wear it in the gym and I wear it in instructionals.”
I’m like, “What the f— is an instructional?”
He’s like, “It’s the videos I do online.”
I’m like, “Yeah. How long have you been wearing that rash guard for?”
He’s like, “I’ve been wearing it for like three months.”
Like, bro, we’ve sold zero f—ing rash guards, zero of those rash guards in that timeframe.
So it was just a black one. It kind of looked like this a little bit, a little bit different, like a Gordon Ryan sort of edition, but not like officially. Zero, not a single person bought one.
So I’m like, “Yeah, bro, that’s not going to work. Nobody wants that. No one’s watching those videos.”
I mean, if they’re watching them, they’re buying… I don’t know, but they’re definitely not buying gear.”
According to Ryan, he proposed charging Toehold $5,000 per month to wear the gear during in-house training and the filming of instructionals. The Toehold founder was reportedly skeptical that this arrangement would result in sufficient product conversions—and for good reason.
If Toehold were to pay Ryan $5,000 a month and sell premium rashguards at $85 each with a production cost of $10 per unit, their profit per rashguard would be $75. To break even on Ryan’s fee, they’d need to sell approximately 67 rashguards. Assuming a typically high conversion rate of 2%—meaning 2 out of every 100 viewers make a purchase—Toehold would need about 3,350 viewers watching Ryan wear the gear in order to cover the cost. Furthere complicating the issue is the fact that Ryan wore toeholds gear on some of his lesser known instructionals including the widely criticized wrestling one.
And can we talk about politically themed, overpriced rashguards? Are we automatically assuming that all of Ryan’s fanbase shares his political views? Not to mention the basic consumer logic: an Under Armour rashguard costs $20 on Amazon and arrives promptly. What exactly is the incentive to buy politically branded, premium-tier gear?
This math also implies Ryan could be making over a million dollars a month—which he himself has debunked.
The dispute gained more attention after Craig Jones, Ryan’s jiu-jitsu rival, launched a satirical collaboration with Toehold. Jones unveiled the “Traveling C*ck Chair”—a luxury seat priced at $1,500 and made from “100% American Made Full Grain Veg Tan Leather”—which reportedly sold out immediately upon release.
Ryan responded to the collaboration with a Charles Barkley meme, stating he’s “not part of a frat house,” and added:
“Being fun and making jokes is cool. Being a professional and winning at everything is 1000x cooler.”
According to Ryan, payment issues persisted for three months after ADCC, despite promises of immediate compensation upon his departure from his previous sponsor. His evidence shows continued requests for payment into January, with the sponsor allegedly claiming their lawyer had “vanished” when pressed about finalizing a contract.
Ryan also claims he personally intervened with Mark Zuckerberg when Toehold faced social media restrictions and facilitated partnerships with celebrities including Jon Jones and Mario Lopez. Additionally, he claims to have secured business opportunities such as “a 50k dollar sponsorship for ADCC for nothing.”
This kind of behavior is becoming a pattern for Ryan, who has been weaponizing his fanbase for years. While there’s no doubt the partnership was sketchy from the beginning, he could be pursuing a legal resolution instead of airing it all out in the court of public opinion.
