Gordon Ryan is just a few days away from appearing at ADCC 2024 but he already has plans for his next opponents after the event. It must be hard not to keep one eye on the horizon when someone has achieved as much as Ryan has, as he’s won over a hundred matches and earned every major title he can in the sport. He’s the reigning ADCC superfight champion after winning the belt in 2022 and this would have been the year that he first defends that title. He’s taking on a slightly different challenge at for his first title-defense though, as he’ll be having one superfight on each day against Felipe Pena and Yuri Simoes.
Once those two superfights are out of the way, Gordon Ryan is apparently focusing on two particular opponents:
“After this ADCC I’m just gonna try to get back to being healthy and there are really only two matches I’m gonna be interested in after ADCC. It’s gonna be one match with (Felipe) Pena and then probably two matches with Vinny (Magalhaes). So those are what I’m gonna be fighting for, if anything, after ADCC.”
It makes sense that Ryan would be aiming for these two matches of course, as there are only three men who currently hold winning records against him. Leandro Lo has sadly passed away so obviously he cannot avenge that loss, but Pena and Magalhaes are both still actively competing. His record against Pena currently stands at 1-2 since Ryan won their most recent match at WNO 14 in 2022, while he lost the only match he has ever had with Magalhaes back in 2018. This isn’t the first time that he’s mentioned avenging those losses either, and he actually attempted face Magalhaes in 2022 before the match fell apart at the last minute.
He has attempted to have that fourth match with Pena before as well, but it was Ryan who withdrew on short notice that time around. Now it seems like Ryan will finally be getting the rematches he’s been chasing for so long, as his fourth match with Pena will serve as one of the superfights at ADCC 2024. Winning that match would take the series between them to 2-2, which is why Ryan is keen to have another match shortly afterward. Given that he’s 0-1 against Magalhaes, that explains why he is after a pair of matches against him instead.
There isn’t much left for Gordon Ryan to accomplish in the sport and if he wins both matches at ADCC 2024 and beats the opponents he wants to face afterward, there is even less for him to chase. Health issues have dominated the discourse around him for several years now so naturally, he was asked about the possibility of retirement after he gets the rematches he wants:
“I don’t know. My health has been rough lately, so I don’t want to say I’m gonna retire but it’s very tiring doing camps like I’m doing them right now. So I’ll leave it open ended, but it’s exhausting feeling like I feel every day and having to fight the best guys in the world and get ready to fight the best guys in the world.”
The full interview with Gordon Ryan where he discusses the only opponents he wants to face after ADCC 2024 was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of FloGrappling:
