Craig Jones, a former teammate of Gordon Ryan’s on the now-disbanded Danaher Death Squad, has a somewhat different outlook on his former teammate.
During a recent appearance on the “Jibber with Jabber” podcast, Jones delved into various topics, including Ryan’s contributions to grappling.
And, even though he acknowledges Ryan’s skills on the mat, he believes that it’s his online persona and behavior that makes things difficult.
Jones explained:
Obviously Gordon, I think, [is the] best grappler. As a person, pretty strange.
Pretty strange guy, I think.I think a lot of his schtick online, I think he has helped grow the sport, but I don’t think it has got anything to do with the schtick he puts on.
I think the sport is growing in spite of it, not because of it.
It’s about the personality in and of itself, says Jones:
I don’t think his political views or some of the negative things he said has helped the sport at all.
Some of his trash talk has because inevitably that makes you interested in seeing the match.
But the whole personality, I don’t think.I think he would have been huge if he was just a nice guy as well.
