It appears as though the reasonably long-standing hiatus that Gordon Ryan placed on himself has now come to an end as the greatest no gi grappler on the planet is making his return to BJJ competition on an upcoming Who’s Number One event. This will be his first Jiu-Jitsu match for almost seven months as Ryan was last seen submitting Vagner Rocha at Who’s Number One, headlining a card featuring several of his teammates also finding success in competition. Unusually for the promotion, the event is scheduled for a wednesday on October 20th and as yet, there are no other matches announced for the card.
Ryan’s opponent for his return to competition will be none other than UFC Welterweight competitor Philip Rowe. This marks an unusual turn of events considering that the 8-3 professional MMA fighter will likely be at a weight disadvantage when competing against Ryan and he has had mixed results in his UFC career so far, going 1-1 in the promotion after earning a shot with a knockout win on a 2019 episode of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Rowe is no stranger to the professional grappling circuit, but he is yet to find success against elite competition. Earlier this year he competed at Submission Underground 22 against Gabriel Checco but ended up losing in EBI overtime against his fellow MMA veteran. Shortly after that he made his Who’s Number One debut against Combat Jiu Jitsu Welterweight world champion Kody Steele but lost a unanimous decision against him. Rowe represents an unusual choice of opponent for Ryan but all eyes will likely be on Who’s Number One regardless, just to see the return of the reigning ADCC double champion.
The full Who’s Number One event featuring the return of Gordon Ryan to BJJ competition will be available to watch live on FloGrappling on October 20th, click here to subscribe and watch.
