Ryan Garcia is allegedly done exploring combat sports outside the ring, after a brief grappling experiment left him with zero interest in ever stepping into an MMA cage.

Discussing the moment on the Suguru Show with Sean O’Malley and MMA Guru, it came out that Garcia had been taken down and choked out during a grappling session by someone who wasn’t even considered elite in the sport.

O’Malley, the former UFC bantamweight champion, responded to Garcia’s admission with respect rather than criticism:

I love that. I love that. He came out there a real boxer, said he’s tried grappling, he got smoked by somebody who wasn’t even that good.
They took him down, choked him.

The topic surfaced after Garcia referenced O’Malley’s own well-known aversion to grappling:

I did see on Ariel, he’s like: “How does Sean O’Malley say he says he doesn’t grapple and wrestle?”
I think it’s hilarious.

I’ve said that multiple times and I’ve showed it in a couple fights that’s that that is very true that I do not do a wrestle.

O’Malley also pointed to how humbling grappling can be, even for elite athletes dominant in another discipline:

Dude, for a boxer who knocks people out, gets paid to fight, to go out there and be humbled by someone who probably wasn’t very super skilled, I don’t know who he went with…
They could have been really skilled.

MMA Guru framed the experience as something Garcia could still benefit from long-term:

If you’re a boxer that likes to party and you know there might be guys that are trying to try you… Why not chuck in one jiu-jitsu lesson on a Sunday now and then, you know?

I mean, just change it up a little bit.

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