Gordon Ryan has backed out of the WNO event after a bout of stomach flue. He was reportedly reluctant to reschedule due to a trip he had on the books. Ryan has been touring outside of the US. He’s visited UAE and Kazakhstan within the last week.
While in Kazakhstan, Ryan was at a press conference of sorts when he elaborated on an interesting plan.
“So this is something that people have wanted to see for a long time. And I competed in the game all the way up until Black Belt and then kind of just focused on Nogi. ”
“I definitely want to teach in the Gi. I’m going to start actually training the Gi a little bit. Just be able to teach because I want to be able to just run a school and, you know, be a good coach and and and make instructionals with the Gi.”
“But at the same time, I also want to go out and prove that I can beat people the at some point. I think so. I don’t have any plans to compete in the Gi right now, but I want to at some point probably compete, whether in a local tournament or just, you know, putting content out there on YouTube for people to see.”
These comments surfaced just a day after Pena expressed his opinions on what’s happening on the Gi and Nogi scene.
Pena expressed that the two are very different modalities, but bemoaned those who don’t compete in the gi as less technical and more reliant on athleticism.
He also responded to a clip Ryan posted by saying:
“He promised to face me in the gi already 7 years ago after agreeing to a match according to his rules. We can do a nogi and a gi match on the same day, of course, if you don’t have to suddenly s**t in your pants”
These comments come on the wings of interesting developments. While Nogi BJJ is living through a golden age with the UFC streaming deal, IBJJF has struggled to secure an audience for their tournaments and have been stuck in an unflattering position. Pena proposed IBJJF try and incentivize Gi practitioners by rewarding black belt level finalists for the participation financially but even this seems like a hard sell.
