Gordon Ryan has long been regarded as one of the most technically complete grapplers in the world, and his reflections on his career offer a rare look into what competing at the top level of submission grappling actually involves.
In a recent interview, Ryan was asked to identify the opponent against whom he had caused the most severe injury. His answer pointed to not one but two separate incidents, both of which have since become part of the sport’s lore.
The first took place during an event featuring Enrico Coco, when Ryan was facing Riley Bodycombs, a respected leg lock specialist with a Sambo background.
“There was a guy, you can probably watch the match, it was when I competed against Enrico Coco, I think it was. It was my third round. I was fig hting, at the time, a famous leg locker named Riley Bodycombs, prodigy. He was like a leg lock guy, Sambo guy.”
According to Ryan, the situation escalated rapidly. He worked through a series of inside and outside heel hooks on both of Bodycombs’ legs until Bodycombs had to be carried off the mat. Even then, Bodycombs never submitted.
“I broke that dude’s legs with inside and outside heel hooks on both of his legs repeatedly, to the point where they carried him off the mat, and he wouldn’t tap.”
What happened next has since become one of the more referenced moments in grappling circles. Ryan transitioned to a back triangle and began working an Americana, gradually pushing Bodycombs’ arm further and further beyond its natural range of motion.
“I catastrophically broke his right leg and his left leg on inside and outside heel hooks, and he did not tap. Finally, I had him in a back triangle, and you can see, this is on video, very clear. It’s like a blurry video, but it’s moving so big, it’s pretty clear.”
Ryan described how the arm was torqued during the Americana and the moment the joint gave way.
“I had him in a back triangle, here. I was going for an Americana, pushing his elbow out this way. I pushed his arm so far, as in tension, tension, tension. When it broke, his fingers were pointing in this direction. I turned his arm around in the Americana lock, and then that was the one that got him.”
Ryan recalled his disbelief in that moment.
“And I was like, really? That’s the one that was too much?”
The aftermath left Bodycombs with a dislocated elbow and damage to both legs, unable to leave the mat on his own. Ryan had to help him off.
“So then his elbow stayed dislocated, it was hanging off his body, and then he also couldn’t get up. I had to assist him off the mat.”
The second incident came during Brown Belt Worlds, where Ryan faced Lucas Valente, a competitor with a well-known reputation for refusing to tap to leg locks. Ryan applied toe holds to both legs in succession. Neither attempt earned him a submission.
“In Brown Belt Worlds, I competed against Lucas Valente, who’s known for not tapping to leg locks, and I put him in a toe hold, and I touched his big toe to the inside of his calf with a toe hold. He didn’t tap, and I kind of looked at Gary, and Gary just laughed at me, and I was like, I guess I’ll let it go. And then broke his other leg in a toe hold, and he didn’t tap. And then we continued the match.”
Gordon Ryan talks his worst breaks
by
u/ColoradoRokkie in
bjjbeat
