Current Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Superfight Champion Gordon Ryan will return for the upcoming ADCC 2024 tournament on Aug. 17-18 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. “King” will battle ADCC 2017 Absolute Class winner Felipe Pena on Saturday (Aug. 17) then return to lock horns with ADCC 2022 Absolute Class victor Yuri Simoes on Sunday (Aug. 18) — assuming his health holds up between now and then.
Ryan has a well-documented history of fight-canceling stomach woes.
“After this ADCC I’m just gonna try to get back to being healthy and there are really only two matches I’m gonna be interested in after ADCC,” Ryan told FloGrappling. “It’s gonna be one match with Pena and then probably two matches with Vinny. So those are what I’m gonna be fighting for — if anything — after ADCC.”
Ryan, 29, doesn’t want to retire from competition without avenging his losses to Brazilian rivals Felipe Pena and Vinny Magalhaes.
“I don’t know,” Ryan said about retiring. “My health has been rough lately, so I don’t want to say I’m gonna retire but it’s very tiring doing camps like I’m doing them right now. So I’ll leave it open ended, but it’s exhausting feeling like I feel every day and having to fight the best guys in the world and get ready to fight the best guys in the world.”
Skipping the “cut-rate” ADCC tournament this year is Aussie phenom Craig Jones, who will stage his own grappling invitational across town at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Jones and Ryan have a longstanding rivalry that sadly, will not be resolved on the mats.
For much more on the upcoming Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) click here.