Isaque Bahiense is a highly-accomplished BJJ competitor, being an IBJJF World Champion and a black belt under the legendary coral belt Fabio Gurgel. Now, Bahiense is the head coach at Dream Art Project and he recently announced in a post on his official Instagram account that he’s eager to see a Brazil v USA event to settle an outstanding grudge. He got the inspiration for the entire event as a result of the now-infamous incident where Gordon Ryan slapped Andre Galvao backstage at the last Who’s Number One event at the end of February. Bahiense said that “Gordon slapped Andre Galvao, a legend of our sport… Now let’s resolve on the tatami in July.”
Bahiense didn’t just stop there however, as he went on to call for the specific names he’d like to see competing against each other in his proposed Brazil v USA event. While you might think that the main event would logically be set between the two grapplers involved in the altercation, it seems as though Bahiense is realistic in accepting that Galvao’s request for a million dollars to fight Gordon Ryan is something no promotion is ever going to agree to.
Instead, Bahiense has put forward another grudge match involving Gordon Ryan and the only man to beat him twice, Felipe Pena. Seeing as the two have had public spats in the past, this is still a big-name matchup that could generate a lot of interest in both casual and hardcore fans of the sport. He’s also proposed a number of supporting matches to follow the Brazil v USA theme like Nicky Ryan v Mica Galvao, Nicky Rodriguez v Patrick Gaudio, Keenan Cornelius v Leandro Lo, and of course he wants to be the one to compete against Garry Tonon himself.
