We recently managed to get some face-to-face time with the ADCC Head organizer Mo Jassim and he revealed that Gordon Ryan may be allowed to do something completely unprecedented at ADCC 2021. The pound-for-pound greatest no gi grappler on the planet right now stormed through the last edition of the ADCC World Championships to take gold in both his weight-class and in the absolute division. Now there’s a debate raging as to whether or not Ryan should be allowed to compete in the tournament again, despite booking his place in a superfight against Andre Galvao:
Mo Jassim – “This is something that’s never been asked before. Personally, I don’t have an issue with him doing the brackets, but it’s not just my decision.”
As Jassim points out, no other reigning absolute champion has been able to compete in the ADCC World championships as well as the superfight, Gordon Ryan would be the first exception to this rule. Of course, this presents an entirely new challenge that Jassim is already aware of and has already devised a solution to:
Mo Jassim – “He cannot do the absolute. Because the problem is this: if he won the absolute he’d go on to do the superfight. So if he won the absolute, which is very possible, he’d have to fight himself in 2023.”
“People asked me why I can’t just let the second place winner fight in the next superfight. But I don’t think that’s fair to that side of Gordon’s bracket.”
This does seem like the fairest way to move forward if Ryan is allowed to compete at ADCC 2021 in both the tournament and the superfight. It would allow the remaining competitors to compete in the absolute division for the right to fight him in 2023 and would still leave room for another man to win double gold in 2021.
You can read the feature interview with Jassim here.
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