For the past couple years now, Gordon Ryan has been teasing a move to MMA. The world class grappling talent has won the ADCCs and the IBJJF Worlds as a no-gi competitor, but speaking to Luke Thomas on the MMA Hour back in 2019, he made it clear that the next step has always been to go into MMA and prove his talents in the cage as an elite competitor.
“Gi is just not as exciting for me,” Ryan said when asked about what the next horizon would be after achieving so much success as a no-gi grappler. “I don’t want to invest time into something that’s not as fun as MMA, which is my ultimate goal. My ultimate goal was always to be the best in MMA, not the best in grappling.”
And while the COVID-19 pandemic no doubt slowed the potential jump to a new sport, it appears Gordon is now finally ready to take the plunge. The Gordon Ryan and John Danaher trained 25-year old has been announced as the latest sigining for Singapore-based MMA promotion ONE Championship. President Chatri Sityodtong announced the news via his Twitter account on Monday, March 22nd.
ONE has provided a jumping off point for other notable grapplers in the past and currently sports other notable BJJ talents including Tom DeBlass, Marcus Buchecha, Yuri Simoes, and – of course – Gary Tonon. Tonon made his own jump over to MMA with ONE back in 2018, and is currently 6-0 competing with the promotion. No doubt as one of the world’s largest mixed martial arts platforms, ONE will be hoping to see similar success out of Ryan.
No word yet on when Ryan’s debut will be, or against whom.
