Gordon Ryan and Felipe Pena have recently been going back and forth on whether or not to put a time limit on their upcoming fourth match, which is currently scheduled for February 25th, 2023. The match has been booked to serve as the main event on a Who’s Number One card, much like the last match between the two elite competitors. The pair have a long history together as they have met on the mats three times in the past, dating back as far as 2016 when they met in a no time-limit superfight at Studio 540.
Pena submitted Ryan with a rear-naked choke in the original match before beating him on points the second time they met, in the final of the absolute division at ADCC 2017. It took around four years for the pair to cross paths again, when they competed in another no time-limit match as the main event of a Who’s Number One card in August 2020. Ryan dominated their third meeting and submitted Pena with pressure from the top position. Their fourth match was scheduled to be contested without a time limit again, but Pena apparently wants to put one in place:
After Gordon Ryan and Felipe Pena publicly went back and forth about the possibility of putting a time limit in place for their fourth match, it appears as though the debate continued over private messages. Ryan decided to make their disagreement public again though by posting screenshots of their messages on the story of his official Instagram account. It’s not surprising that he would do that seeing as he’s shared private messages between the two in order to settle a debate in public before, and the screenshots from their latest disagreement can be seen below:
The screenshots of the private messages between Gordon Ryan and Felipe Pena confirmed Ryan’s story about the time limit for their fourth match, as Pena doesn’t appear to disagree that it is already scheduled to go ahead without one. In one final post on the topic, Ryan explained the history of their rivalry with each other and how each of their matches have come about: