Kron Gracie‘s recent public criticism of John Danaher has drawn a response from Gordon Ryan, Danaher‘s most prominent student, turning a one-sided critique into a full-blown online back-and-forth.
The dispute traces back to a series of posts in which Gracie went after Danaher‘s credibility as a coach. Reacting to a clip of Danaher‘s appearance on the Lex Fridman podcast, where Danaher broke down loss aversion using a hundred-dollar-bill example, Gracie wrote:
“I cannot believe people fall for this guy’s bull**it. All he did was put everyone who won at black belt through an AI database before AI was big
“He can explain but he can’t do s*it.”
Weeks earlier, Gracie had taken aim at another Danaher clip, this one about the triangle and its philosophical place in jiu-jitsu. Danaher had argued the technique embodies the sport’s core principle:
“If I wrestle my upper body versus your upper body, it’s just a battle of strengths. The stronger man wins. But if I can use my legs to fight your upper body, that’s when weaker people start beating stronger people.”
Gracie‘s reply was dismissive:
“I never do triangle?!? Why do people listen to this AI bot, because he sounds smart?!? I don’t get it.”
Ryan responded to an article recapping Gracie‘s comments by posting a comparison of the two men’s résumés.
“Kron- 1 ADCC title, 1 euro title, 0 champions built. John Danaher- head coach of too many grappling titles to count, too many ufc title defenses to count, the no gi goat, and the arguable MMA goat. 2 GOATS, 2 sports. I have so many ADCC belts that I give them away as gifts. All because of @danaherjohn. I do agree though 1 guy is definitely teaching bulls**t.”
Gracie fired back directly at Ryan and Danaher.
“I never was a coach I was too busy training, @danaherjohn never won a match, he just sit there like the x man guy in the wheel chair telling people the master plan.”
Ryan then turned to Gracie‘s competitive record.
“Weird, youd think that since you were training since birth, youd have manage to win more than 2 titles in your entire life. You didn’t have time to coach and spent all your time competing and still sucked that bad? Hahah like, you competed your whole life and only ever won a single adcc and euros? Maybe you should have focused more on coaching.”
The exchange then shifted toward PEDs. Gracie, who competed under USADA testing throughout his career, pressed Ryan on the topic.
“How many adcc you win without ster**ds? Oh zero so I have 1 more than you, and you lost to Leonardo Lo who I submitted. Your not such a goat in my book.”
Ryan defended his use of PEDs by pointing to ADCC’s rules and testing practices, citing his win streak and title count as evidence that his approach works.
Gracie maintained his position that the PEDs are prohibited in most competitive sports regardless of enforcement gaps.
“they are not legal just because they don’t have the money to enforce the d**g testing, any sport it’s illegal and shameful, any sport go ask around.”
