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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Gordon Ryan may rub some people the wrong way, but it’s impossible to deny the credentials he’s established as one of the best grapplers in history.

That’s according to UFC veteran and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Kenny Florian, who is preparing to call Ryan’s pair of superfights at the ADCC World Championships on Saturday and Sunday from Las Vegas. In rare back-to-back matches over two days, Ryan faces longtime rival Felipe Pena and then takes on 2022 ADCC champion Yuri Simoes.

Ryan’s willingness to take on a daunting challenge like that after missing a significant amount of time in his career while dealing with a debilitating stomach disorder only speaks to the résumé he’s attempting to put together as the greatest of all-time.

“Gordon Ryan at his best, when he’s healthy, he’s the Michael Jordan of submission wrestling, whether you like it or not,” Florian told MMA Fighting. “He’s just that good. He was a phenom when he was younger. He had a commitment unlike any other person out there. He has just so much to his game. There’s so many ways that he can win. Everything from his defense to his offense, he’s as perfect of a grappler as you’re going to get.

“He knows how to compete when the lights are brightest. Everyone wants to see him either win or lose. When you’re that good in this sport and you talk a little trash like Gordon Ryan, people are going to want to see you compete. He has two big challenges ahead of him. With his health issues, it makes it an interesting wrinkle, for sure.”

While Ryan’s activity has slowed down considerably due to his health issues, the now 29-year-old submission specialist still maintains a remarkable list of wins on his record, with his last noted loss coming all the way back in 2018 in a match against Vinny Magalhaes.

Since that time, Ryan has rattled off a ridiculous amount of wins in succession while taking out champion after champion to help him truly earn his nickname as “The King.”

There’s no metric that can be measured to truly define anybody across sports as the greatest, but Florian believes in his estimation that Ryan has done more than enough to cement himself in that position when it comes to submission grappling.

“There’s no question about it,” Florian said of Ryan’s stake as the best ever. “I think the proof is in the pudding based on what he’s accomplished at this stage of the game. You have to have him as the GOAT. To me, there’s three grapplers that really stand out, all of them ADCC world champions — Marcelo Garcia, Roger Gracie, and Gordon Ryan, and Gordon Ryan being the latest iteration of those gentlemen.

“The sport evolves. You learn from those that came before you. We stand on the shoulders of giants. I think Gordon Ryan and his coach John Danaher, of course one of the best coaches in the world, knows how to learn from those guys, knows how to apply successful techniques, successful strategy, successful training methods, and has improved upon that a lot. We have Gordon Ryan because of it.”

Of course, it’s impossible to ignore that off the mats, Ryan has become one of the most polarizing figures in the sport thanks to his willingness to speak his mind and talk trash to his opponents, which isn’t typically the case in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu community.

Ryan’s brash attitude earned him plenty of attention, but also a few enemies who don’t particularly love the way he handles himself.

In a way, Florian feels like that only adds to Ryan’s mystique and also creates an audience with some fans backing his every move and others constantly rooting for his downfall.

Florian expects those emotions to bubble up a lot this week with the ADCC World Championships kicking off, but even more with Ryan preparing to grapple his old rival Pena, who actually holds two wins over Ryan in the past.

Add in Ryan’s health woes in recent years and Florian knows the drama surrounding his return will reach a fever pitch by his first match on Saturday.

“Gordon Ryan isn’t 100 percent or hasn’t been,” Florian said. “On certain days, he feels great. On certain days, he doesn’t. So I’m certainly curious to see what kind of Gordon Ryan we see. This potentially opens the door for someone to come in here and get an upset.

“[And] just based on their history, the fact that [Ryan and Pena] really do not like each other, it’s what makes it exciting.”

MMA Fighting – All Posts

An emotional moment
| BJPenn.com

‘DC’ doesn’t know where Adesanya’s career goes if he loses to Dricus Du Plessis in Perth, Australia this weekend at UFC 305.

Former UFC double champ Daniel Cormier believes Saturday’s UFC 305 title fight between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya is the most important fight of “The Last Stylebender’s” career.

Cormier is in Perth, Australia to commentate the pivotal middleweight title fight between Du Plessis and Adesanya. Izzy has a chance to become one of the few three-time UFC champions in history — a stat that Du Plessis has pointed out isn’t exactly a positive one. If he fails on Saturday night and falls to “Stillknocks,” where does that leave the UFC superstar?

“I think Izzy needs to win, man. He’s got to win this fight,” Cormier said in an interview with Submission Radio. “Because I don’t know what his career looks like for a guy like Israel Adesanya if he isn’t in the title reign.”

“Motivation is a tricky thing. Especially for a guy that seems to have everything. All the money, all the titles. He’s got the fame. He’s got everything. Getting up to fight for a championship again is easier than saying, ‘I’m just going to fight on a pay-per-view and I might be the co-main event.’ I don’t know if that’s in Izzy’s cards anymore. I think it’s titles. And if it’s not titles, it’s getting back to titles. But I don’t know that he has that run in him. And I don’t know if he should have to have that run in him, because he’s done so much already.”

“It’s vital that he wins on Saturday,” DC concluded.

The big question: which Izzy will we see on Saturday? The one who thundered through the middleweight division en route to his first title, or the one who seemed unable to outpoint Sean Strickland back in September 2023, the last time we saw him compete? This is the longest break we’ve seen Adesanya take since he arrived in the UFC, and his teammates have talked about him healing up a multitude of nagging injuries that could make a difference. But the time off was definitely needed, according to Cormier.

“This dude carried a heavy schedule, man,” he said. “His schedule was crazy. They rode him. They rode him through the pandemic. They rode him after the pandemic, and he always showed up. So, he continued to fight and make a ton of money, but you need a break. And it feels like he’s refreshed and excited again to have the opportunity to go out and fight and try to become champion.”

“Fighters are monsters,” Cormier continued. “Because they have such strong minds, they convince themselves that they‘re okay. When in reality, they’re not. But I don’t know that it was Izzy’s body that was run down as it was probably hard mentally.”

“You’re always getting ready to fight the most dangerous, scariest guy in the world, every time when you’re the champion. And he did that time and time and time again. He had one of the greatest title reigns we’ve seen in a long time. And I think this break will serve him well. I’m not saying he’s going to win because of it. But I think he’ll be better in the octagon than last time because he’s able to reset. It’s hard to carry that schedule. But Dricus is tough. He’s very good.”

Bookies have Adesanya and Du Plessis even at -110, which tells you just how much uncertainty surrounds this grudge match between the two African fighters. All answers will be given when the cage door swings shut on Sunday afternoon in Australia (Saturday night for those of us living in North America) and reality sweeps away speculation, leaving only one man standing.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists, where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day.

Why, hello there! It’s been a while my avid Fisties, but I’m excited to be back. I haven’t graced Missed Fists in a long time, but with Alexander K. Lee out on vacation, I selflessly offered to step in and take a trip down memory lane. Things are a little different since the last time I was here, but the core concept remains the same: Hey y’all, look at this cool stuff!

So let’s look at some cool stuff!

And because I’m in charge this week, I’m going to cheat. Usually AK doesn’t opt for UFC adjacent content because this is about regional MMA, after all. But I love me some Contender Series, and on the first episode of the season this week, fans got to see one of the very best prospects in all of MMA show out.

Lone’er Kavanagh is only 25 years old and a lot of very smart people expect very big things out of this young man. It’s easy to see why.

An Tuan Ho is a good prospect in his own right, yet it took Kavanagh little more than two minutes to figure out the timing and lamp him.

Kavanagh has TV star looks (seriously, he kinda looks like Tanner Buchanan from Cobra Kai), unreal power, and a bit of something special around him. Many people expected him to go win the Cage Warriors belt but then the UFC called, and if he keeps delivering performances like this, the talk will turn to when he’s fighting for the UFC title instead.

Wender Batista vs. Ricardo Nogueira

MMA debuts always fascinate me because it’s a hurricane of emotions washing over you before you make the walk for the first time. Even the most confident people will have some doubts, as for the first time, the rubber is truly about to meet the road. What if you actually suck, and embarrass yourself and your family and no one will ever love you again because you did so poorly?

Or, what if you’re Wender Batista?

Batista made his MMA debut against Ricardo Nogueira at Sinop Fighting Combat 2 in Sinop, Brazil, and you can hardly dream of a better outcome. Despite being massively disadvantaged when it comes to experience, Batista showed poise in his first fight, before landing a beautiful head kick that dropped Nogueira. He then finished the job with a series of savage punches that left Nogueira folded up on top of himself like Mirko Cro Cop after the first Gabriel Gonzaga fight.

Not bad for your first time.

Ngoc Tin Huynh vs. Tuyet Dung Phan Ngoc

Not all debuts go as well, though. Case in point, when Ngoc Tin Huynh made his debut in June at Lion Championship 14, he lost a unanimous decision. But the young Vietnamese fighter didn’t let that keep him down, and at Lion Championship 16 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, his sophomore effort went substantially better.

Ngoc Tin Huynh opened the contest with a sneak high kick that almost finished the job immediately, but Tuyet Dung Phan Ngoc covered up and retreated, allowing Ngoc Tin Huynh to knock him out in just 13 seconds.

Somewhere out there, Conor McGregor is thinking fondly about when he used to fight.

Langston Sykes vs. Anson Swindle

But while Ngoc Tin Huynh was undeniably excited to redeem himself from his unfortunate debut with a great KO, there might not be a man alive who was happier this week than Langston Sykes.

Sykes fought Anson Swindle in the co-main event of Island Fights 84, and heading into the contest, Sykes was 0-4 in his professional MMA career. That kind of repeated losing can wear on a person, and Sykes was able to exorcise those demons with one of the most aesthetically pleasing knockouts you’ll see this month.

The combination, the clean right hand to finish him off, the way Swindle’s head snaps around and then he falls perfectly between the ropes, landing on the middle one like he’s about to get 619ed by Rey Mysterio. *Chef’s kiss.*

Ilzat Assiyev vs. Abylaikhan Zholdasbayev

But Missed Fists doesn’t just celebrate the knockouts in regional MMA. We’re also all about the wonkiest and rarest submissions. Regional MMA is great for subs because the disparity in fighters can be vast, so you get all sorts of things that are extremely rare in UFC or PFL.

To that end, one of my favorite submissions is the Suloev stretch as it’s very cool and also brutal, as Abylaikhan Zholdasbayev found out.

Zholdasbayev faced Ilzat Assiyev in the opening bout of NAIZA 65 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the poor man got run over. Assiyev scored an early takedown, moved to mount, and battered Zholdasbayev until finally delivering a merciful end with a Suloev stretch. It’s not often the Suloev is considered mercy, but in this case, it was — though Zholdasbayev may not walk right for a while.

Qiulun vs. Bayanduuren Gantumur

On the topic of fun submissions, former Contender Series and Road to UFC fighter Qiulun got back in the win column with a nasty ninja choke against Bayanduuren Gantumur at JCK Fight Night 90 in Luliang, China.

Gantumur opened the second round with a naked shot at Qiulun’s legs and paid the price for his mistake, as “Tibetan Knight” quickly locked in the fight-ending choke. Gantumur fought valiantly to survive and break the grip, but ultimately couldn’t find a way out and was forced to tap before going to sleep.

And that’s it for this week, Fisties! Honestly, fairly light as far as regional highlights I would consider great, but still, some pretty fun ones. And as always, a big thanks to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.

If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on Twitter (I’m not calling it X) — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

UFC

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

At the UFC 305 official weigh-ins, all 24 fighters on Saturday’s fight card step on the scale Friday evening in Perth, Australia.

UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis and former UFC champion Israel Adesanya square off in the main event. Du Plessis and Adesanya can weigh no more than 185 pounds, the maximum limit for a middleweight championship bout.

The UFC 305 official weigh-in video will be at 6 p.m. ET.

The UFC 305 ceremonial weigh-in video will be at 11 p.m. ET.

Check out UFC 305 weigh-in results below.

Main card (ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET)

Dricus du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya

Kai Kara-France vs. Steve Erceg

Mateusz Gamrot vs. Dan Hooker

Tai Tuivasa vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik

Li Jingliang vs. Carlos Prates

Prelims (ESPN2/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)

Junior Tafa vs. Valter Walker

Joshua Culibao vs. Ricardo Ramos

Casey O’Neill vs. Luana Santos

Jack Jenkins vs. Herbert Burns

Prelims (ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET)

Tom Nolan vs. Alex Reyes

Song Kenan vs. Ricky Glenn

Stewart Nicoll vs. Jesus Aguilar

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Watch as the key fighters from UFC 305 Face-Offs as Dricus du Plessis and Israel Adesanya go face-to-face ahead of their Saturday night showdowns in Australia. 

Tai Tuivasa, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Kai Kara-France, Steve Erceg, Mateusz Damrot and Dań Hooker also face off after the much heated UFC 305 pre-fight press conference.

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