Fresh off B Team’s victory at Craig Jones Invitational 2, head coach Nicky Ryan made an interesting revelation. Despite guiding his team to one of the sport’s most high-profile wins, Ryan admitted he earned zero dollars from the event after turning down a percentage offer from the organizers in conversation with Tim Welch.
“They offered me a percentage, but I don’t know, as an athlete, I know what it’s like going out there and competing. So they offered me a percentage and I told them no. So I actually made zero dollars off of CJI.”
For a competitor-turned-coach still carving his path in the sport, the gesture showed an unusual sense of sacrifice in a landscape where money often drives decisions.
Ryan’s presence on the sidelines was only possible because of injury. He had originally been set to compete in the 77-kilogram division before deciding to undergo ACL surgery, a choice that sidelined him from active competition but opened the door to take full control as coach.
“Initially I was supposed to, you know, was like going to be either me or Joseph Chen in 77. And then I decided to finally get my ACL repaired. So I knew it wasn’t going to be ready in time. So we put Joe Chen instead,”
Ryan explained.
His coaching methods proved just as disruptive as his team’s performance. Influenced by ecological training concepts, Ryan and Damien designed practices that replaced traditional drilling with competitive games and positional sparring specific to the CJI rule set. Sessions began with only a short warm-up before diving directly into high-intensity scenarios, with Ryan providing real-time corrections and ending with Q&A. The experimental approach paid off with dominant results on the mats.
The event itself wasn’t free of controversy. Early talk suggested that New Wave Jiu-Jitsu might receive a million-dollar consolation prize despite losing to B Team. The idea ignited heated debate online, questioning whether money could override competitive results. Ryan later explained that the investor reversed course after reviewing the official rules, which clearly stated that in a tied scorecard, the winner would be determined by whoever won the final match. By rule, B Team’s win stood beyond dispute.
Behind the triumph, Ryan continues to battle serious physical challenges. Years of intense training and multiple surgeries have forced him into a different rhythm: one session per day combined with daily lifting and physical therapy, far from the grind of his teenage years when he trained multiple times a day while commuting from New Jersey to New York.
“It was probably too much. Is probably why I’ve been getting so many injuries these past few years,”
he admitted.
His future as a competitor remains uncertain.
“If I get one more knee surgery, especially within the next one to two years, I’m just retiring from competition and just coaching,”
he said. For now, the plan is to heal, return cautiously, and see if his body can withstand another run at elite competition.
The Craig Jones Invitational marked a pivotal moment in Ryan’s evolution—from young prodigy to respected coach willing to put his team above himself. It also underlined a harsher reality: in a sport built on grit and sacrifice, sometimes the price of victory is paid not in money, but in what you’re willing to give up.
