Francis Ngannou is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to striking. As a professional mixed martial artist, ‘The Predator’ secured 12 out of his 18 wins via knockouts. But that doesn’t mean he has a weak ground game. Five of his wins came via submission. His round 1 victory over Anthony Hamilton with a kimura has become an iconic moment—a part of his highlight reel. However, the 2-time ADCC silver medalist, Nick Rodriguez, seems to believe otherwise. 

During his conversation with Quinton Jackson on the JAXXON Podcast, he weighed in on a hypothetical BJJ matchup against the Cameroonian heavyweight PFL champion. Rodriguez claimed, “In Jiu Jitsu… I mean, it’d be not that hard.” Needless to say, ‘Rampage’ was left a bit perplexed. After all, Ngannou has the size to dominate his opponents on the mat. Remember when he stuffed Stipe Miocic’s takedown attempts in his second outing with the Croatian-American former champion? But ‘Nicky Rod’ stuck to his guns.

Rodriguez explained, “Nick: The thing is like, I think that leg lockers, like if you’re good at leg locking people, it evens the playing field. You could take a 20-year-old black belt that’s competing but doesn’t have any leg locks, and you get somebody that trained leg locks for 6 weeks, he probably heel hooks him. It’s an evening playground. And it also takes a lot of the size and athleticism out of it when you can control somebody’s foot.” 

Well, if we take a look at Ngannou’s record, he has often relied on upper body grappling exchanges to win his fights. Even though his stance weakened during his boxing matches, ‘The Predator’ has always shown a dominant side of himself with his fists. But when it comes to pure grappling, some gaps need to be covered. And with Rodriguez’s heel hook victory at the Craig Jones Invitational, fans don’t doubt Rodriguez’s skills against the Cameroonian’s.

After MMA Uncensored shared the footage from JAXXON Podcast on Instagram, fans wasted no time storming the comments section and expressing themselves. Let’s see what they had to say about the ADCC star’s claims. 

Fans agree with Nick Rodriguez’s claims about a BJJ bout with Francis Ngannou

The fighting community agrees with Nick Rodriguez. The BJJ star has spent all, if not the majority, of his time practicing Jiu-Jitsu. This factor alone was enough for fans to put the heavyweight grappler one step ahead of Francis Ngannou. One fan wrote, “In straight grappling he’s right lol.” Another fan commented, “In a grappling match he would mop the floor with Francis for sure!” One more fan added, “Not a lie detected. He would rip Ngannou’s knees apart in jiujitsu.”

Meanwhile, many others backed Rodriguez because of his position as the #3 best heavyweight grappler. A fan commented, “I mean, he’s right, Nick is probably the third best heavyweight grappler in the world right now.” One fan even questioned Jackson for being surprised. After all, BJJ is Rodriguez’s playground. The comment read, “Why is the ufc veteran acting surprised by this? Nicky is a BIG BOY. There’s not a an MMA heavyweight that would be a threat to him in a jiu jitsu match.”

On the other hand, the fans commended Ngannou’s striking prowess. A comment read, “Francis is a KO machine take his strikes away of course he’s no where near the same fighter.” He’d definitely win if it were a striking bout. But without striking, Ngannou would be like a fish out of water. A fan weighed in on this and wrote, “I mean, it’s not that he’s wrong. But it wouldn’t be easy. Ngannou is freakishly strong. No strikes nick wins. Strikes. Francis wins. Simple.”

Would you like to witness a BJJ bout between ‘The Predator’ and ‘Nicky Rod’? Do you think Rodriguez can actually beat Ngannou if the two ever engaged in a grappling battle?  Sound off in the comments.