One of the greatest grapplers in history continued his dominance today. Gordon Ryan took part in the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 3 tournament, and he fought in a Superfight against Nicky Rodriguez.
Vinny Magalhaes was originally supposed to be his opponent, but the Brazilian canceled his performance almost at the last minute, and a replacement was quickly found. Nicky Rodriguez as Gordon Ryan’s former training partner replaced the experienced Magalhaes and actually put up a very good resistance, despite stepping in about 24 hours before the match.
Through 20 minutes of competition, Ryan and Rodriguez neutralized each other and neither of the two great grapplers managed to seriously and concretely threaten their opponent. So, the match was followed by extra time and a very interesting competition in getting out of a dominant position. More than once, both fighters started from a position where they had back control, and it would be measured how long they maintained that control before the opponent got out. Victory could also be achieved by “submission”.
After each of the two grapplers had the mentioned position three times, Gordon Ryan won by holding control in such positions longer overall. However, it should be noted that Nicky Rodriguez locked Ryan in the “RNC” towards the end of the overtime and was very close to the “submission”. Unfortunately for Rodriguez, his two minutes expired before forcing Ryan to tap. Rodriguez didn’t let go even after time expired, and Gordon Ryan tapped a few seconds after signaling that time had expired.
So close for Nicky Rod!!! But we are going to escape time!! #FPI3 pic.twitter.com/3ObYx8OmBu
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) December 16, 2022
Rodriguez may have gotten some satisfaction by forcing Ryan to tap, but he still lost the match. Gordon Ryan thus continued his winning streak after winning two golds at the ADCC World Championships earlier this year. And there, in the final of the category up to 99 kilograms, he defeated Rodriguez. “King” Gordon Ryan has been undefeated since 2018 when he lost on points to Vinny Magalhaes. This is his 55th victory in a row.
As part of this event, which was broadcast via UFC Fight Pass, Miesha Tate also performed. The former UFC bantamweight champion lost in overtime to one of the greatest BJJ masters in history. Mesquita has won the world gold in BJJ ten times, and in 2017 she also became the world champion in grappling. Tate put up a good fightback but lost with leverage in overtime.
In addition to superfights, a tournament was held in the absolute category, and the winner won 25 thousand dollars. In the tournament of eight, Mason Fowler took the victory in the end. The American grappler defeated Pat Shahgholi (armbar) in the first round, and then finished Patrick Gaudi with a “triangle choke”. In the final, Fowler won against Luke Griffith, and he won in overtime, in the same way as Gordon Ryan.
