Robert Drysdale Clarifies Dillon Danis & Mansher Khera Joining Zenith

IBJJF World and ADCC champion Robert Drysdale is the co-founder of Zenith, and he welcomed Dillon Danis and Mansher Khera into his gym and onto the team following their suspension from Marcelo Garcia's Alliance gym in New York. 

Considering Drysdale is one of the few people to have beaten Garcia via submission, some online commenters drew conclusions based on the news that Danis and Khera decided to train at Drysdale's Las Vegas gym ahead of the IBJJF World Championships. 

In this exclusive interview with FloGrappling, Drysdale clarifies the situation: 

I’ve actually known Dillon for a long time, I use to teach him privates as a teenager prior to him train with Marcelo. His parents asked me if he had any potential in jiu-jitsu and I said he did. 

I advised him to go train at Marcelo Garcia’s because he was in the Jersey area and I said it was the best school in the area. 

We kept a good relationship over the years and I saw Dillon progress. My prediction was correct, I know he could make it. 

Regarding what happened with him and Marcelo, I don’t like to judge. I like to start with a blank slate. Dillon has always been good to me, he’s always been a good friend. I always give him advice and I think he has some respect for me, and I think I’ve been a good coach the last two weeks he’s been training with me. 

I’m the original Marcelo Garcia fan. I have a lot of respect for him, I think there’s a mutual respect. They sought me out, they said they needed a place to train for Worlds. I said they were more than welcome, I have an open-door policy. They came and liked it, and asked if they could represent Zenith at Worlds and I said absolutely. There’s no bad blood.