A Gordon Ryan vs. Felipe Pena rematch on the Who’s Number One stage is officially set for February 25, 2023, providing us with the match everyone hoped to see at the ADCC 2022 event.
The best grappler in the world, Gordon “King” Ryan is going to face his old nemesis Felipe Pena ina a headliner match at Who’s Number One in February of 2023. Apart from the fourth Gordon Ryan vs. Felipe Pena match, the card will also feature Craig Jones taking on Nicholas Meregali in what is one of many high-level clashes between former Danaher Death Squad teammates that will surely follow.
The fourth Gordon Ryan vs. Felipe Pena match is hardly going to be the last one, though. Felipe Pena has two wins over Ryan, one by submission in 2016 and one by points in 2017. Ryan then defeated Pena very convincingly at WNO in August, forcing him to tap out verbally after a 42 minutes long match.
This makes it 2-1 for the Brazilian, and a fourth match, given Ryan’s current level, would most likely make them equal, which will undoubtedly will prompt a decisive match to take place again in the future.
The last Gordon Ryan vs. Felipe Pena match had its fair share of controversies, as Pena accused Ryan of not respecting the fact that he was heartbroken over the untimely death of his close friend Leandro Lo the night prior to the match:
Today, one of the best people and one of my biggest friends, died. And I went to FloGrappling and said that I don’t want to fight anymore. And they said: “I know how it is, I see how you are. That you are not mentally prepared for this fight.”
And the guy [Gordon] just said: “No, whatever. This fight is going to happen. I really don’t “care.”
This turned out into a bit of a saga later, with Gordon giving his side, and calling Pena out about constantly trying to back out of the fight and trying to change the rules even though Ryan gave him 10-1 odds.
The BJJ world expected a Gordon Ryan vs.Felipe Pena rematch at the 2022 ADCC, but despite both grapplers being in the same division (heavyweight), they did not encounter each other.
It remains to be seen what the exact match rules are going to be for this fourth rematch between Ryan and Pena next February.
