Tag: Gordon Ryan

BJJ superstar Gordon Ryan likens Jon Jones to GSP: ‘The way he combines everything is on another level’

Jon JonesBJJ icon Gordon Ryan was very impressed with the grappling skills of undisputed UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones during…

Jon Jones

BJJ icon Gordon Ryan was very impressed with the grappling skills of undisputed UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones during their week of training.

Originally scheduled to headline UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 on December 10, Ryan was forced to withdraw due to a rib injury. Still, that didn’t stop the greatest grappler on the planet from taking in the action live inside The APEX in Las Vegas. In the main event of the evening, Nicholas Meregali defeated Felipe Pena via a rear-naked choke while Nicky Rod added another win to his resume, besting Yuri Simoes on points.

Following the festivities, Gordon Ryan spoke with media members at the post-fight press event. While there, he opened up about his training sessions with Jon Jones in October.

“With Jon Jones, he’s very similar to GSP (George St. Pierre) in that he’s not the best in any one area, but the way he combines everything is just on another level,” Ryan said. Even just grappling. Like, his ability to intuitively change his gameplay from, you know, the start of the roll to the end of the roll, from round to round, is incredibly impressive.

“So the most impressive thing is, obviously, his ability to put everything together, but his ability to adapt as the match goes on and change the game plan per what you’re doing. I was very impressed with him as a person and as an athlete all around.“

Gordon Ryan Heaps Praise on Jon Jones’ Ability to Pick Things up quickly

Jon Jones was in the process of preparing for a heavyweight superfight with former two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic at UFC 296. Sadly, ‘Bones’ was forced to withdraw after suffering a pectoral tear weeks before fight night.

He recently underwent surgery and is expected to be out for six to eight months, putting his potential return around summer 2024 at the earliest.

“You always go in and you don’t know what to expect from you’re training with athletes from other sports,” Ryan added. Obviously, he doesn’t focus on jiu-jitsu, but his wrestling is top-notch. His jiu-jitsu is tough and he’s good from everywhere. He learns incredibly quickly. Most of the time, you see guys… Young athletes usually learn a lot faster. It’s like the old saying, you can’t teach old dogs new tricks, but he’s nearing 40 now, and everything I taught him…

“If I taught him five things and he instantly picked up three, he’d instantly put those three things into his game and he was hitting them 100 times better from the start of the week to the end. He was a really impressive person to be around.“

Gordon Ryan has not competed in BJJ since scoring a victory over Nicky Rod at a Fight Pass Invitational event in December 2022. He is expected to be back on the mat in 2024.

Gordon Ryan accepts Mark Hunt’s challenge to fight after brutal feud: ‘We can fight any time’

Gordon RyanAfter a vicious war of words, Gordon Ryan and Mark Hunt could potentially be gearing up for a fight to settle their newly established Twitter beef. Their disagreement centers around the UFC’s recent split from their partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency aka USADA. The split has been viewed by many to have been […]

Gordon Ryan

After a vicious war of words, Gordon Ryan and Mark Hunt could potentially be gearing up for a fight to settle their newly established Twitter beef.

Their disagreement centers around the UFC’s recent split from their partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency aka USADA. The split has been viewed by many to have been caused by USADA’s unwavering professionalism and refusal to bend the rules for fighters like Conor McGregor. McGregor hoped to make a late 2023 comeback but missed the cutoff date to complete the minimum six months required in the USADA testing pool to be cleared to fight.

It’s been rumored that Dana White expected USADA to make some sort of special exception for their superstar and allow him to come back without completing the minimum six months in the testing pool. When denied, White and the UFC refused to extend their deal with USADA and have now partnered with an obscure and lesser-known testing agency. Unsurprisingly, many are calling this move ridiculously shady and outright corrupt.

Hence the war of words between Gordon Ryan and Mark Hunt. As both fighters find themselves on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their view on the usage of performance-enhancing drugs, and the UFC’s split with USADA which is set to take effect in January of 2024.

Gordon Ryan and Mark Hunt beefing after their scathing Twitter war

“If the UFC ‘regresses’ back to the old days, this is amazing news,” Gordon Ryan said (H/T MMA Mania). “The reason people watch professional sports is almost exclusively for entertainment value.”

“Few people who watch pro sports have any real desire to excel at those same sports,” Ryan continued. “So really, they are just watching for the most entertainment. The higher the testosterone, the more physical the athletes are, the less prone to injury they are, the faster they recover, the longer they can compete, and the more entertaining and high-paced they are. The better they look, the more attention they draw, the more money they make.”

Once Mark Hunt got wind of these statements, he was not happy. Hunt is notoriously and vehemently against the usage of PED’s. So, it made sense that he took to Instagram to respond in what is now a deleted post.

“What does this idiot know about fighting,” Hunt wrote. “(Gordon Ryan) maybe have at least one proper before you talking d—khead. Maybe I should get on the sauce and stomp your face (and) see how you like it.”

Gordon Ryan responds, allegedly accepts Hunt’s challenge to fight

“If you read the post,” Ryan began. “You’d either see the validity in the arguments or offer up a decent rebuttal that was factually based. You did nothing but blabber out of your fat, miserable mouth. We can fight any time you’d like. You may very well knock me out before I get a hold of a legs, but then again, you also may not. And I’m very willing to take my chances. Miserable f—k.”

Later on, Gordon Ryan also posted to his Instagram story, saying: “Fear no one- ever. I’d bet heavily on me (by the way).”

Who do you think wins if Mark Hunt and Gordon Ryan actually threw down in an MMA fight?

Dillon Danis reacts to Logan Paul bringing BJJ star Gordon Ryan to weigh-Ins: ‘That’s his steroid supplier’

Logan PaulLogan Paul had another ace up his sleeve during the Misfits Boxing weigh-ins on Friday in the form of BJJ superstar Gordon Ryan. Paul kicked things off by bringing Chris Hansen, the host of To Catch a Predator, on stage to help him complete a one-note joke that you can probably figure out without us […]

Logan Paul

Logan Paul had another ace up his sleeve during the Misfits Boxing weigh-ins on Friday in the form of BJJ superstar Gordon Ryan.

Paul kicked things off by bringing Chris Hansen, the host of To Catch a Predator, on stage to help him complete a one-note joke that you can probably figure out without us fully explaining it. But the social media star was far from done, revealing that he had brought in jiu-jitsu’s top gun, Gordon Ryan, to make sure Danis doesn’t try any funny business once the two men step inside the squared circle on Saturday.

Dillon Danis is a coward, a predator, and I’m f*cking him up,” Paul said following his successful weigh-in. “I’m f*cking him up tomorrow. He’s a dirty a** fighter. I got all the goods in case he tries anything funny. In fact, I got Dillon Danis kryptonite in the building. You know, I brought the baddest dude in the world. I got Gordon Ryan to protect me in case he tries any jiu-jitsu bullsh*t. This man gonna f*ck you up tomorrow if you try to pull some sh*t.”

Gordon Ryan Reveals Why He’s in Manchester to Watch Paul vs. Danis

Asked by event host Ariel Helwani why he was there, Ryan said:

“Really I’m here just to retrieve Dillon because I need someone to clean my cars and he’s the one who usually does it. So I came all the way here just to retrieve him and bring him back home to Texas.”

The rivalry between Gordon Ryan and Dillon Danis dates back to 2017 when the two men met at the ADCC World Championships. Danis took Ryan to the limit and it appeared that things were fairly amicable between the two, but in recent years, Ryan has claimed that Danis’ BJJ record is largely manufactured.

Responding to Ryan’s presence in Manchester, Dillon Danis delivered a fiery response.

“That’s his steroid supplier,” Danis quipped. “That’s who that is. Two juice-heads. Gordon is a little b*tch. That’s why he’s selling out. He’s from Jersey and supports the other side. You’re a fcking dead man when you get back to Jersey you p*ssy a* b*tch.”

Dillon Danis vs. Logan Paul goes down on Saturday with the Misfits Boxing main card kicking off a 2 p.m. ET on DAZN pay-per-view.

Watch the full weigh-in ceremony below:

BJJ icon Gordon Ryan compares Jon Jones to UFC legend Georges St-Pierre: ‘He’s better than anybody’

Jon JonesJon Jones is calling in the big BJJ guns ahead of his first defense of the UFC heavyweight world championship. On November 11, ‘Bones’ will return to the Octagon eight months removed from his shocking two-minute submission victory over Ciryl Gane to claim the vacant heavyweight title. This time, Jones will defend the crown against […]

Jon Jones

Jon Jones is calling in the big BJJ guns ahead of his first defense of the UFC heavyweight world championship.

On November 11, ‘Bones’ will return to the Octagon eight months removed from his shocking two-minute submission victory over Ciryl Gane to claim the vacant heavyweight title. This time, Jones will defend the crown against the man many consider to be the division’s greatest competitor, two-time titleholder Stipe Miocic.

To prepare himself for the danger that Miocic presents, Jon Jones has been putting in some work with perhaps the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner in the world today, ‘King’ Gordon Ryan.

During an appearance on Morning Kombat, Ryan revealed that Jon Jones had reached out to him on Instagram for some insight as ‘Bones’ marches toward one of the biggest fights in UFC heavyweight history.

“Stipe, there’s nothing really special that he does as an MMA grappler,” Ryan said of Jones’ next opponent, “He’s not bad but it’s not like he has an amazing ability to hip heist up or an amazing triangle or armbar or gets mounted on you, you’re never gonna get up. He’s kind of like a good, generic, all-around guy. So, I think that — obviously, Jon studies a lot of tape on him as well — at this point, Jon is just interested in doing things that he wants to improve upon as an athlete himself.

“If there was one thing I saw that Stipe did that was dangerous to Jon, or that I think could give Jon problems, then I would force Jon to be in those positions. But Stipe’s not known as a super dangerous grappler so I think it’s just overall Jon is just trying to improve as an athlete” (h/t MMA Fighting).

Gordon Ryan Likens Jon Jones to an MMA Great

As for his thoughts on Jon Jones specifically, Ryan believes ‘Bones’ is in many ways like former UFC welterweight and middleweight champ, Georges St-Pierre.

“Jon is a lot like ‘GSP,’” Ryan said. “He’s not the best wrestler in the world, he’s not the best striker in the world, he’s not the best at jiu-jitsu in the world but when it’s time to put things all together — just like Georges — he does it better than anybody else in the world. So, if you get a high-level wrestler, he’s gonna lose a wrestling match [and so on]. But when it’s time to actually fight, he’s better than anybody else in the world.

“The two things that impressed me to a very shocking degree with him was No. 1, his ability to learn moves. Because most guys at his level who are successful, and most guys who are in their mid-30s and they already have an established game over two decades, they have their game then once you teach them something they don’t really retain.

“It’s like they have their game and that’s it. With Jon, he’s always looking to integrate new things into his game and if he has five different topics he asks me about and I teach him five things, he might disregard three of them but if he likes two of them, he will immediately be like, ‘Okay. That’s a part of my game now.’”

Heavyweight champ Jon Jones trains with BJJ legend Gordon Ryan ahead of UFC 295 title fight

Jon JonesUFC heavyweight world champion Jon Jones recently hit the mat with one of the greatest BJJ specialists in the sport today, Gordon Ryan. Next month, ‘Bones’ will return to the Octagon eight months removed from his stunning world-title-winning performance against perennial contender Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. This time, Jon Jones will be defending the […]

Jon Jones

UFC heavyweight world champion Jon Jones recently hit the mat with one of the greatest BJJ specialists in the sport today, Gordon Ryan.

Next month, ‘Bones’ will return to the Octagon eight months removed from his stunning world-title-winning performance against perennial contender Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. This time, Jon Jones will be defending the gold as he meets perhaps the best heavyweight in the history of the division, Stipe Miocic. The pair are set to headline the promotion’s return to Madison Square Garden at UFC 295.

Before their highly anticipated clash in The Big Apple, Jon Jones appears to be putting in some work with submission grappling legend Gordon Ryan. Jones recently shared an image of himself with ‘The King’ on his Instagram stories.

“Great having King Ryan back in Albuquerque. Brother always comes with the best vibes and knowledge,” Jones wrote. “Ladies and gentlemen, do not count out a first round submission.”

Gordon Ryan Delivers a Dominant Performance in His Return to Action

Gordon Ryan returned to competition after more than a year on the shelf due to a severe case of strep throat that he contracted during a road trip to Abu Dhabi. After multiple rounds of antibiotic treatment, Ryan’s condition only worsened forcing him to undergo a tonsillectomy.

Unfortunately, Ryan’s health issues did not stop there as he began to experience stomach discomfort due to fungal growth in his small intestine.

On October 1, Gordon Ryan made his epic comeback at WNO 20: Night of Champions and successfully defended his heavyweight title against Patrick Gaudio. ‘The King’ delivered a dominant performance that saw him playing with his prey before scoring a slick submission by way of an arm bar.

Video – Jon Jones grapples with Gordon Ryan in rigorous training camp ahead of UFC 295 title fight return

Jon Jones trains with Gordon Ryan in rough grappling match ahead of UFC 295 title fightAppearing to take all precautions ahead of his return to the Octagon against former two-time heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November, incumbent gold holder, Jon Jones has shared the mats with decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu force, Gordon Ryan – rolling with the grappling ace ahead of his comeback. Jones, the current undisputed heavyweight […]

Jon Jones trains with Gordon Ryan in rough grappling match ahead of UFC 295 title fight

Appearing to take all precautions ahead of his return to the Octagon against former two-time heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic at UFC 295 in November, incumbent gold holder, Jon Jones has shared the mats with decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu force, Gordon Ryan – rolling with the grappling ace ahead of his comeback.

Jones, the current undisputed heavyweight champion and former two-time undisputed light heavyweight titleholder, most recently headlined UFC 285 back in March against former interim heavyweight champion, Ciryl Gane – submitting the Frenchman with a one-sided first round guillotine choke win.

Jon Jones shares the grappling mats with Gordon Ryan

And in the penultimate flagship event of the year, Jones is slated to headline UFC 295 in November at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Ahead of his title defense against Ohio veteran, Miocic, Jones, the current pound-for-pound number one, has employed the grappling talents of dominant Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace, Ryan during his camp, sharing footage of a rough and tumble grappling session with the New Jersey native.

Making a stunning Octagon comeback following a three-year Octagon hiatus back in March, Jones made his heavyweight divisional bow against Frenchman, Gane – submitting the latter with a first round guillotine choke to clinch the vacant heavyweight crown. 

Ahead of his comeback against Ohio veteran, Miocic in November at Madison Square Garden, rumors have suggested that Jones – as well as Miocic may call time on their career following the UFC 295 title pairing.

“You know, I feel like the Stipe (Miocic) fight will be plenty for me,” Jon Jones said. “I don’t have much to prove after beating Stipe Miocic. I’ve been in the game for a long time, and in fighter years, I’m an old guy. I’ve been training for a long time, been in the game for a long time. Got some small injuries, and I really just want to be around – be around for my family, I wanna be around for my kids, I wanna be able to play with my kids. And have a good head on my shoulders, and joints that work.”

“I could see it coming to an end really soon,” Jon Jones explained. “And I’m happy with that, I’m really proud of my career.”

Do you expect to see Jon Jones reign supreme at UFC 295 in November?