Gordon Ryan has now become the sixth person to be given an invite to the 2022 ADCC World Championships and he will be competing in the +99kg division as well as his long-awaited superfight championship match against the reigning champion Andre Galvao. This will make him the very first reigning double champion to compete in a weightclass as well as the superfight and according to ADCC head organizer Mo Jassim, he is also the first athlete to request this as well.
Ryan competing in his weightclass once again was something that Jassim had mentioned previously when we spoke to him, although he wasn’t able to confirm whether this would take place at the time. Things looked a little doubtful earlier this year when Ryan took an indefinite hiatus away from professional Jiu-Jitsu competition, but he has since returned for an exhibition match and it didn’t look as though he’d lost any of the phenomenal talent and skill that he displayed during his ADCC 2019 performance.
To date, two of the infamous ADCC trials events have been completed and two men have earned their way to the 2022 World Championships in each weightclass. The European, Middle-Eastern, and African trials were completed first, with the North American East Coast trials quickly following. Since then, several competitors have also been given invites to compete at the event with the first ones announced going to Xande Ribeiro, Bianca Basilio, Craig Jones, and Felipe Pena. Lachlan Giles then became the first person invited to compete in the 77kg division shortly before Gordon Ryan was given the first invite for the +99kg division of the ADCC 2022.
The promotion announced the news that Gordon Ryan would be competing in the +99kg division of the 2022 ADCC World Championships as well as his superfight championship match against Andre Galvao in a post to their official Instagram account:
