Written by Soren Lindseth
With the recent news of world-renowned Jiu-Jitsu competitor Gordon Ryan signing with ONE Championship, the implications it has on mixed martial arts and other combat sports athletes currently outside of MMA competition could be great.
On Monday, the news broke that Gordon Ryan, who is considered by many to best Jiu-Jitsu practitioner alive, had signed a deal with Singapore-based combat sports promotion ONE Championship. It was originally reported that the deal would be for submission grappling along with MMA, but it seems that Ryan has backtracked on the MMA part, saying he is going to just be grappling for the time being, but may pursue an MMA career in the future.
Ryan, who is only 25, has had an outstanding grappling career. He started training at age 15 under the tutelage of Miquel Benitez, but soon after was introduced to coaches John Danaher and Gary Tonon, both of whom he trains with today. Known for their leg locks and dominance in no-gi Jiu-Jitsu, Danaher’s so-called “Death Squad” has produced some of the best Jiu-Jitsu competitors in the world.
Quickly ascending in the sport, Ryan was able to win his first major tournament after earning his black belt in 2016 at the Eddie Bravo Invitational Championship. His current record in the sport is 143 wins with 120 coming by submission (84%), 9 losses, and 3 draws. Out of his nine losses only one has come by way of submission. His unbeaten streak spans 45 matches.
He has won numerous tournaments and championships, almost too many to list. To name a few, he got first place in the Grappling Industries in 2016 and 2017. He has won the Eddie Bravo Invitational four times. He placed first at Quintet 3 in 2018 and first at Kinetic 1 in 2019. He won both the IBJJF Pans and world no-gi tournament in 2018. He also placed first at the ADCC World Championship in 2017 and 2019 and the list goes on.
The combat sports community was shocked when Ryan announced his plans to retire following his double gold win at the 2019 ADCC in Anaheim. Giving his great success and young age, 24 at the time, it was a very surprising announcement. He returned to competition shortly thereafter in February 2020 and has competed several times since. In light of his new deal with ONE, he seems to have re-committed to his grappling career.
Since Gordon Ryan’s ascension in Jiu-Jitsu, people had been wondering if/when he would transition to MMA. With Jiu-Jitsu being a relatively unheralded sport in the states and MMA becoming mainstream with the ESPN deal, it would make sense why an athlete like Ryan would want to try their hand at MMA.
One of the reasons MMA pundits and fans are so curious about Ryan competing in MMA is their belief that he has the potential to be dominant. They would not be wrong to make this assumption, because Jiu-Jitsu has been utilized successfully in MMA since the inception of its premiere promotion, the UFC, in the early nineties. Royce Gracie at UFC 1 in one-night tournament-style fights was able to beat many fighters who came from many different disciplines. Not to mention that this was before the advent of weight classes, so Gracie was fighting people that had a significant size advantage over him.
Of course, in mixed martial arts today a fighter needs to be well-rounded if they want to compete with the very best of the sport. Fighters know Jiu-Jitsu, but even those who have black belts would not have the resume and experience that Gordon Ryan would bring to the table. All that being said, if Gordon Ryan does decide to do MMA, he has the potential to be great.
On a broader spectrum, it seems that more and more combat sports athletes outside of MMA are considering the transition. Wrestling has always been a breeding ground for MMA talent. Many fighters in the UFC come from wrestling backgrounds, including many champions such as former Olympians Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo.
From a financial perspective, the UFC is the best place for a wrestler to compete if they want to continue their career after college. It also helps to know that history has shown that wrestlers have tremendous success in the sport. This is mainly due to the fact that wrestling is a difficult sport to master and those who can compete at the college and Olympic level have years of training and experience that cannot be attained easily.
Wrestling is definitely the most common base that fighters have when entering UFC, however, fighters have come from striking disciplines as well and been successful. For example, Holly Holm had a highly-decorated boxing career and became UFC champion in shocking fashion with a head kick that stunned Ronda Rousey, who was seemingly invincible at the time. Similarly, Valentina Shevchenko had a stellar Muay Thai and kickboxing career where she was a multiple-time champion before winning UFC gold. Israel Adesanya also had a fantastic kickboxing career with 75 wins to his 5 losses and dabbled in boxing as well.
The point being that Gordon Ryan is not the first person to move from his specific discipline into the broader field of MMA and certainly will not be the last. Assuming he does actually fight in MMA, it will be interesting to see if any of his fellow top Jiu-Jitsu competitors join him.
The fact that MMA is more established and can make combat athletes more money than if they stayed in their designated lane seems to be the main catalyst for athletes making the jump. Ryan’s coach John Danaher laments this fact and wishes that people like his student Ryan would not have to do MMA to make money and could stick to their single discipline. It is important to note that Ryan could still compete in Jiu-Jitsu if he competed in MMA, but it obviously would not have his full attention.
The truth is that at this point in time, if a combat athlete really wants to make good money, MMA is really their only outlet. Even in boxing, a sport that has been established far longer than MMA is seeing their best current female fighter, if not ever, Claressa Shields transition to MMA. If she can find success in her transition, it will be interesting to see if more boxers follow suit, but it is more unlikely given the money in boxing.
All of this is extremely good news for the sport of MMA. The fact that combat athletes in all different martial arts disciplines are wanting to compete in MMA will cause the sport to grow even more. A large number of fans of singular disciplines (boxing, wrestling, etc.) already watch MMA, but if someone as prominent as Gordon Ryan in a specific discipline like Jiu-Jitsu makes the leap to MMA, they will bring even the purest of fans into the sport.
If the best athletes from other sports start transitioning to MMA, it will lead to rich, intriguing, and competitive stylistic matchups from some of the best athletes in the world. Gordon Ryan’s move to MMA is extremely significant and may signify the start of a trend of talent transferring from other combat sports to MMA in the near future.
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