The rivalry between Gordon Ryan and Craig Jones has escalated again following new claims that the public explanation surrounding Jacob ‘Jay Rod’ Rodriguez’s removal from B Team did not tell the full story.
Ryan posted a series of Instagram statements criticizing Jones, accompanied by screenshots and commentary that he said show Jones and his associates attempting to undermine Simple Man Martial Arts, the rebranded academy that replaced B Team. Among the material Ryan highlighted was a comment from Jones responding to speculation about Rodriguez.
“For good reason. For the people thinking that what we released is all there was, you’re out of your mind. It’s called respecting the vic tims’ privacy.” – Craig Jones wrote on social media.
The statement reignited speculation surrounding Rodriguez’s May 2025 ban from B Team. At the time, team leadership said Rodriguez had been discovered keeping screenshots of female teammates’ public Instagram profiles alongside adult content on his phone. Rodriguez subsequently went on a podcast and claimed that was the full extent of his problematic behavior.
Jones and co founder Seth Belisle announced his removal and described the decision as immediate and non negotiable at the time.
Ryan alleged that Jones has since waged an ongoing campaign against Simple Man Martial Arts through media channels and online commentary.
“Make no mistake. Creg is waging war on simpleton, because he can’t handle rejection,” Ryan wrote. “He gaslights, infiltrates, manipulates the weak minded, low IQ, and then destroys, all while claiming moral high ground.”
Ryan also shared posts showing Jones and several jiu jitsu media outlets promoting East Austin Jiu Jitsu, where Belisle is now believed to train, rather than Simple Man Martial Arts, which remains under the leadership of Nicky Ryan and Damien Anderson.
“You went from being a former Z Team and crooked Creg propaganda page to all of a sudden promoting Ryan Austin gyms of your supposed friends after you so amicably split from the team?” Ryan wrote refrencing Freddy Pedrique’s social media page.
The renewed tension comes after BJJDOC reported that Rodriguez had been training at Simple Man Martial Arts outside of regular operating hours less than six months after his removal. When contacted, Anderson confirmed that Rodriguez
“is not a member of Simple Man Martial Arts, is not part of our team or programs, and does not train during public classes or member hours.”
He added that
“any limited use of the facility has occurred outside of public hours and does not involve participation in classes.”
This arrangement differs from the complete ban in place when Jones and Belisle controlled the academy. Jones formally departed the organization in July 2025, citing difficulty managing operations remotely.
“I’ve been the absent father,” Jones said in an August interview, referencing challenges handling internal matters from afar, including the Rodriguez situation.
Ryan accused Jones of inconsistency and hypocrisy.
“It’s no coincidence Creg has no team, no home, a wife who left him, and no real friends,” Ryan wrote. “The internet is the opposite of real life. You should strive to be liked in real life, not the internet.”
Ryan previously announced plans to release an instructional aimed at dismantling the octopus guard, the position Jones recently highlighted in his Octopus 2.0 instructional, which sold more than 2,000 copies within 48 hours at a listed price of $189.
The timing of Ryan’s posts coincided with Jones uploading body camera footage showing the October 2025 arrest of Nathalia Amato Santoro, Ryan’s wife, following separate traffic incidents in Austin, Texas. The footage gained widespread attention online and now appears prominently in search results related to Ryan.
Ryan claimed Jones has amplified the incidents through multiple online channels.
Despite the continued escalation, Ryan said he no longer feels compelled to engage publicly.
“People ask why I don’t respond to crooked Creg anymore,” he wrote. “If I pointed out all his blatant hypocrisy and lies, I would have to post about it all day, which I don’t care to do.”
Jones’ response has been sharp:
The larger problem for Gordon Ryan is not Craig Jones. It is that his online presence no longer carries the weight it once did. The signal has been drowned out by a steady stream of influencer slop: culture bait, grievance posting, and commentary aimed less at the jiu jitsu world than at an aging, algorithm ridden MAGA audience far removed from the mats. Ryan’s public output has grown increasingly disconnected from what is actually happening in grappling.
By 2025, jiu jitsu at the top level has stalled, and Ryan, once the undisputed center of gravity in the sport, has done little to inject new energy into it. His dominance used to define the conversation. Now the conversation often moves without him. While Jones continues to provoke, build, and stay embedded in the ecosystem Ryan once controlled, Ryan’s influence has narrowed to social media monologues that rarely translate into momentum on the mat. Star power in grappling does not disappear overnight, but it does erode when engagement turns inward, defensive, and detached from the community that created it.
