Gordon Ryan found the perfect opportunity to vindicate his controversial “scrimmage wrestling” concept when Brandon Reed faced Nick Rodriguez at CJI 2 and the result couldn’t have been more satisfying for the ADCC champion.
The backstory began when Reed a three-time NIA wrestling champion and four-time All-American openly criticized Ryan’s instructional terminology during an interview. Reed didn’t mince words about his feelings toward Ryan’s approach to grappling education.
“What’s made me cringe lately has been like Gordon Ryan consistently saying scrimmage wrestling,” Reed stated bluntly. “I’m like dude, what the [expletive] is that? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Reed’s critique went deeper than just terminology targeting what he perceived as Ryan’s dismissive attitude toward traditional wrestling credentials.
“He kind of low-key disses all the wrestlers in jiu-jitsu,” Reed claimed. “He’s like ‘guys, you’re getting these instructionals from wrestlers in jiu-jitsu, you need to get my scrimmage wrestling instructional, this is the real stuff for jiu-jitsu.’ I’m like Gordon, what are you talking about bro?”
Ryan’s response was characteristically direct and personal referencing their previous training encounter.
“Remember the 1 time we trained in a 20-minute round, and I beat the piss out of you so bad that you couldn’t get up at the end of the round?” Ryan wrote. “Remember how I scored about 847 points on you under ADCC takedown rules, and you scored 0 on me because you have no idea how to scrimmage?”
The ADCC champion used the opportunity to explain his distinction between traditional wrestling and what happens in submission grappling competitions. “When you say you wrestle you need to specify what kind of wrestling. Is it freestyle? Is it greco? Is it folkstyle? ADCC wrestling is a form of wrestling. You ‘scrimmage’ for the 1st point. It’s way different than any other form of wrestling,” he argued.
Ryan pointed to specific examples to support his theory. “There’s a reason Pat Downey got heel hooked off a wrestling exchange at trials. There’s a reason that I win all the scrimmages for top position against the sports ‘best’ wrestlers like Andre and Yuri etc It’s completely different.
Fast forward to CJI 2 where Reed faced Rodriguez in a +99kg versus -99kg match that proved pivotal for the team competition between Daisy Fresh and B-Team. Reed initially validated his wrestling credentials using conventional wrestling to control much of the match against the smaller Rodriguez.
However Rodriguez employed exactly the kind of strategy Ryan had been advocating — what he calls “scrimmage wrestling.” Rather than engaging in pure wrestling Rodriguez used wrestling positions as setups for submission attacks turning control into entry points for finishes.
The tactical shift proved decisive. Rodriguez managed to get behind Reed and immediately established a body triangle transitioning seamlessly from wrestling to submission grappling. After brief hand fighting Rodriguez secured the rear naked choke eliminating Reed from the competition and giving B-Team a crucial advantage in the team duel.
Ryan wasted no time pointing out the irony on social media noting how Reed “immediately gets back taken” at the start of what he called a scrimmage situation. The submission loss stung particularly given Rodriguez had recently been “out scrimmaged” by a jiu-jitsu practitioner who rarely wrestles making Reed’s defeat even more emblematic of Ryan’s point about the distinction between traditional wrestling and grappling-specific wrestling applications.
The outcome seemed to perfectly illustrate Ryan’s central thesis: success in submission grappling requires a different approach to wrestling than what traditional wrestlers often bring to the mats. While Reed’s conventional wrestling allowed him to control positions initially he ultimately fell to Rodriguez’s submission-oriented wrestling game — precisely the kind of approach Ryan has been promoting through his scrimmage wrestling instructionals.
