Gordon Ryan has been very vocal about his political beliefs over the past few years and despite the fact that his leanings are obvious, it’ll still come as a bit of a surprise that he’s decided to leave New Jersey in light of the recent US election results. Ryan made the announcement that he was leaving the state in a post on his official Instagram account and although his house is not yet on the market, he’s made his intentions crystal clear. It’s the state he was born and raised in but he doesn’t believe that the Tri-state area is for him anymore as a result of Governor Phil Murphy and his actions.
It’s hard to imagine that Ryan will ever leave the blue basement, especially now that his younger brother Nicky has just joined him as a black belt under John Danaher. As a result, even though Gordon Ryan will no longer be living in New Jersey, it’s likely that he’ll simply make a longer journey to Renzo Gracie New York than he did before and nothing will really change for him competitively. He’s already reached the highest levels of the sport despite his relative youth, but there’s still plenty on the horizon for the reigning ADCC double champion.
He’s toyed with the idea of making the switch to MMA over the last few years, but Danaher recently revealed that he’s been trying to talk him out of making that jump. Assuming Danaher gets his way and Ryan stays in grappling exclusively, he’s still got the now-delayed ADCC 2022 to look forward to. He should be set for a superfight with fellow legend of the sport, Andre Galvao, although ADCC officials are unable to guarantee that Galvao will be willing to take the fight. Even if he doesn’t, those same officials have floated around the idea of allowing Ryan to enter his weightclass at ADCC 2022 and see if he can emerge victorious for a third consecutive World Championship.
