So it’s official and the moment that fans of elite grappling in MMA have been waiting for is finally here, Gordon Ryan will now be competing in both MMA and submission grappling for ONE FC. It’s something that Ryan himself has been teasing for several years now and he’s been seen several times over the years mixing up his training with some striking thrown in. Now the news has just been broken courtesy of ONE FC CEO Chatri Sityodtong on his official Facebook account that he has managed to sign Gordon Ryan to the organization.
After years of speculation, the news comes as a little bit of a surprise right now considering that Ryan’s coach John Danaher recently went on record to say that he was attempting to talk him out of ever making the move to MMA. It seems as though Ryan has decided to go against that advice however and now he’ll be joining his teammate Garry Tonon in fighting for ONE FC, the promotion where Tonon has managed to build up his perfect 6-0 undefeated MMA record.
The fact that Gordon Ryan will soon be making his MMA debut is something that should also interest anybody who’s been following the recent drama between him and Andre Galvao closely. The pair had a now-famous altercation backstage at Who’s Number One that resulted in Ryan slapping Galvao and many fans eager to see the two finally clash on the mats. But Galvao was vocal towards the end of 2020 about wanting to try his hand at MMA again and hinted that he might be making a return to the sport sometime this year after retiring over a decade ago.
With Galvao considering a return to MMA and Ryan now signed on to make his professional debut, it seems as though the stars might be lining up perfectly for fans to see the most unexpected conclusion to this drama become a reality. Of course, if Galvao chooses not to sign with ONE FC or not even return to MMA at all, there’s always Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida who narrowly lost out to Ryan at ADCC 2019 and is already scheduled for his ONE FC debut shortly.
