Although Gordon Ryan has a contract with the ONE Championship, Gordon Ryan is not sure if he will engage in MMA, and pursue his Mixed Martial Arts Career.
When the ONE FC announced the signing of a contract with Gordon Ryan, one of the best and, for sure, most popular grappler in the world, earlier this year, martial arts fans hoped it meant that “King” decided to try himself at MMA. After all, his teammate and top grappler, Garry Tonon, had already successfully done six MMA fights in the Singapore promotion. It seemed like the natural sequence would be for his younger and more successful colleague in Jiu-Jitsu to do so.
But many were disappointed when it became known that Gordon’s contract related to grappling matches, which should appear at newly added ONE FC grappling shows. They have long been not just a set of MMA skirmishes, but a combination of various martial arts, so grappling also found its place in One FC promotion.
In an interview with MMAFighting, Ryan explained what actually happened, how the contact with ONE came about, and what his MMA experience has been so far.
“It’s actually something that’s been in the game for a long time. After I won the ADCC in 2017, Garry Tonon decided to go with MMA. ONE contacted him and made an appointment with him, and they wanted to sign me right away. But I wasn’t for it. I just won my first ADCC, I was 22 and I decided to stay in grappling for a few more years and then go into MMA. Over time I started with MMA sparring, to learn new skills. And then I injured my knee in 2019. I had a catastrophic injury that required surgery and rehabilitation. I came back shortly before I was supposed to go to ADCC prep camp in 2019. I hated MMA because I couldn’t train for four months because of it. I went back to training, I had to focus entirely on Jiu-Jitsu. Shortly after that ONE contacted me again, but my focus, after I won the absolute category, was to fight Andrea Galvao at the next ADCC. So I’m not sure when it comes to MMA, I don’t know whether now nor will I deal with it because my main focus is to do super fight, it’s something I haven’t conquered in no-gi Jiu-Jitsu yet. Then I gave them a proposal to arrange a contract for grappling performances, and if I ever want to transition to MMA, it will be with them,” -Gordon Ryan explained.
Ryan has won everything he has accepted in grappling so far, despite turning only 26 next month. However, he has not achieved one yet. Victory over Galvao, the only man currently to boast of references that could jeopardize Gordon’s status as the best. But that fight could never be agreed upon. Ryan hopes it will be at the next ADCC, as a “super fight” fight, but maintaining it is also still questionable because of the conditions in which the competition should take place.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to provide the conditions for a competition with a huge number of participants, as is expected at the largest grappling competition in the world. And that match with Galvao is currently a priority and a reason why he couldn’t focus on MMA. In addition, his coach John Danaher is not a fan of leaving the sport he dominates.
“When it comes to pure excitement, I’ve always wanted to fight. But technically I’m not even close to that because I’m terrible in most aspects of freestyle wrestling. It’s something I break down about, especially because John wants me to stay in grappling. We’re in position. where grappling can start to be more and more a real sport, and I can be its leader. To leave it at the moment, I think I would do a counter service to grappling, which is still my sport. started originally with jiu-jitsu. And I want to try myself in a real fight, but there is still some of what I originally have to accomplish in jiu-jitsu. I have enough time to go into MMA. When I do that, it will be something I will be one hundred percent focused on. Of course, if I ever make that transition, I’ll do grappling matches here and there, but I’m like that. To do something, I have to be one hundred percent in it. When I feel like I’m not more than one hundred percent in grappling, I think I’m going to start preparing for MMA,” Gordon Ryan Explained very sincerely and realistic.
