Much like we did last year, here we take a look back on 2021 with the rest of the BJJ community and see how your favorite grapplers closed out the year and what they had to say. First up is none other than the greatest no gi grappler on the planet, Gordon Ryan, who decided to take a moment to reflect on the fact that he hasn’t actually spent much time competing at all this year. Of course, in typical Ryan fashion, he also used that moment to take a shot at all the other grapplers out there who’ve had success in his absence:
As always with John Danaher’s official Instagram account, he decided to spend his new year giving out a healthy dose of high-level grappling advice. This time however, the advice wasn’t just focused on BJJ and is actually something that any person could use in their everyday life. This time around Danaher gave out helpful advice on how to set goals for your personal development both on and off the mats:
Mikey Musumeci also celebrated the end of 2021 in a post to his official Instagram account, taking the time to look back on what he described as his “best year/performance of competing” in professional BJJ. Already a master of the straight ankle-lock, Musumeci used this year to develop and diversify his leglock game in anticipation of the IBJJF legalising reaping and heelhooks. He’s already started competing with some of the best around under that more open ruleset and found a good amount of success in doing so too, owing partly to his recent move to Pedigo Submission Fighting:
Alongside these BJJ veterans who had wise words and reflections on what they achieved in 2021, several others competitors and coaches chose the simpler route of sharing their celebrations instead. Among those are IBJJF and ADCC world champions Felipe Pena and Gabi Garcia:
