Nick Rodriguez

Nick Rodriguez, commonly known as Nicky Rod, is a professional grappler – no-gi jiu-jitsu specialist – and former amateur wrestler who worked extensively with coaches Jay Regalbuto as well as John Danaher while representing the Renzo Gracie Academy-Danaher Death Squad team(s) early in his career and later helped form B-Team, a workgroup he co-founded with a few of his DDS colleagues. Rodriguez first made waves in the sport as a blue belt, a time when he conquered a silver medal at the ADCC World Championships (2019), arguably the toughest submission-grappling event in the sport, a privilege only achieved by a handful of athletes before him.

Nick Rodriguez Jiu-Jitsu

Full Name: Nicholas Pete Rodriguez

Nickname: “Nicky Rod” – short for Nick Rodriguez. Nicholas is also named The Black Belt Slayer, a nickname that was born from his early days in the sport, a time when he was already beating veteran black belts in competition.

Lineage: Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Carlos Gracie Jr > Jean Jacques Machado / Rigan Machado > John Will > John Simon > Lachlan Giles > Craig Jones > Nick Rodriguez

Main Achievements:

• 1st Place Craig Jones Invitational (2024)
• 1st Place ADCC US West Coast Trials (2019)
• 2nd Place ADCC World Championships (2019 / 2022)
• 3rd Place Kasai 7 HW Grand Prix (2020)
• 3rd Place ADCC US East Coast Trials (2018)

Main Achievements (Colored Belts):

• 1st Place IBJJF World Championships NOGI (2018 blue)

Favorite Position/Technique: Body Lock Pass, Blitz Pass

Weight Division: Ultra-heavyweight (over 100,50 kg / 222.0 lbs)

Team/Association: B-Team

Nick Rodriguez Biography

Nick Rodriguez was born in August 1996, in Clayton, New Jersey, United States.

Raised in NJ, a strong wrestling state led Rodriguez to the mats at the age of 12. Competing for Clayton High School’s team Nicky qualified for the NJSIAA championships as a senior. After HS Rod caught the attention of Ferrum College, who brought Rodriguez to their wrestling program in the state of Virginia.

Rodrigues spent 1-year training at Ferrum and competing for the Division III college wrestling team where he went 34-7 and placed fourth at the East Regionals, albeit, failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament. After his experience with collegiate wrestling, Nick opted to pursue a modeling career while adding jiu-jitsu classes to his daily activities, a discipline he initiated in June 2018 with instructor Jay Regalbuto, at South Jersey BJJ.

Regalbuto immediately realized Rodriguez’s potential for submission-grappling, launching Nicky into the competitive side of the sport after a mere 3 weeks of training. Jay’s intuition proved right as the former wrestler conquered two pro-level tournaments in two months while holding on to an undefeated record.

After such a promising start, making a run for the upcoming ADCC USA East Coast Trials became a chance worth taking. To improve and test the talented jiu-jitsu rookie, Rodriguez, and coach Regalbuto started attending different workgroups, which ultimately led them to Gordon Ryan, arguably the best no-gi competitor in the world.

Rodriguez’s first private lesson with Ryan took place in October 2018. Coach Regalbuto’s initial plan relied on Gordon also recognizing Nicky Rod’s potential and inviting him to Danaher Death Squad’s training room. The idea proved successful as Nick started visiting DDS in New York twice per week in the build-up to the ADCC Trials, taking bronze in the tournament 1 month later, with about 6 months of training. Coach Jay promoted the Jersey native to blue belt while he stood on the podium. Rodriguez made another run at the trials a few months later in California, this time earning his ticket to the main event.

In September 2019, Nick Rodriguez competed at the ADCC World Championships, one of the toughest competitions in the no-gi jiu-jitsu world, where he beat several world-class black belts on his way to a silver medal and subsequent purple belt promotion, (also while standing on the podium,) from coach Jay Regalbuto.

After his ADCC experience, Rodriguez started training full-time with coach John Danaher, both in New York and later in Puerto Rico, when the team relocated to the US-owned Caribbean island. Once the team split, in 2021, Rodriguez helped form B-Team (check more on that below).

In December 2023, Nick Rodriguez was promoted to black belt by his teammate and co-founder of B-Team, Craig Jones.

SPLIT FROM DANAHER DEATH SQUAD

In July 2021, coach John Danaher announced the end of the Danaher Death Squad as a unified training and competition team, alluding to “the physical location of a future school, personality conflicts, conflicting values and an inevitable tension between the team brand and the growing individual brands of members” as the main factors for the split (original statement here).

Later that year, in August 2021, Nicky announced his new team, one formed alongside a few of his DDS training partners, namely Nicky Ryan, Craig Jones, and Ethan Crelinsten. This new group was labeled the “B-Team” with its training base being set in Austin, Texas.

NOTE REGARDING NICKY ROD’S RECORD

Traditionally BJJ Heroes has only accounted for adult black belt records as they signify an athlete’s entry into our sport’s elite ranks. Nick Rodriguez, however, is a special case as he’s been competing in the pro-grappling circuit since he was a white belt. This has left BJJ Heroes with a delicate predicament of defining when to start accounting for his match records.

Considering the level of opposition and the extensive list of professional athletes Nicky Rod overcame from early on in his career, we believed it would be beneficial to have his matches in the pro-circuit included on his profile, prior to his black belt promotion.