Gordon Ryan will now be making his return to BJJ competition by taking on Patrick Gaudio at the upcoming Who’s Number One: Night Of Champions event on October 1st, 2023. This will be the first time that Ryan has stepped on the mats in competition this year, as the last time he competed was at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 3 against Nicky Rodriguez. Ryan won that match in EBI overtime and continued his run of dominance in the sport, although there were moments where Rodriguez had managed to gain the upper hand.
Although the choice of opponent for Ryan was a bit of a surprise, he already announced when he would be making his return to BJJ previously. He won’t be making many competitive appearances in 2023 but he’ll no doubt be making just as much of an impact on the sport as he always does. He had originally planned for a much bigger slate of competition appearances of course, but things took a turn right at the beginning of the year when he had to withdraw from his fourth match with Felipe Pena due to illness he suffered during the build-up.
Although that original issue was over and done with relatively quickly, Ryan’s health spiraled further after that and he was hit with a series of issues that kept him out for even longer. Now Gordon Ryan will get a chance to put all that behind him by defending his WNO Heavyweight title against Patrick Gaudio, a man he’s already defeated once before. The pair met in the absolute division of the IBJJF no gi World Championship back in 2018 and although they finish 4-4 on points, Ryan won on advantages.
FloGrappling announced the news that Gordon Ryan was returning to BJJ competition to face Patrick Gaudio at Who’s Number One 20: Night Of Champions in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
