With Gordon Ryan mostly inactive and sidelined in recent years, two openweight champions faced off at WNO 27, in a bout that could’ve arguably determined the top heavyweight today. CJI champion Nick Rodriguez overcame early adversity and used his smothering top control, earning an impressive win over ADCC double gold medalist Kaynan Duarte in the main event.
Much like how the inactive Conor McGregor pops up on social media to steal the spotlight during big UFC events, Gordon Ryan took to Instagram to criticize both heavyweight grapplers after WNO 27.
“One guy cant isolate a limb from Mount. One guy has clearly never practiced a mount escape in his life,” Gordon Ryan wrote on Instagram, before attempting to sell more of his Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) instructionals.
“Why is everyone so bad ? there are dvds for this, fellas . Check me out @bjj.fanatics”
While some people pointed out his inactivity, Gordon Ryan made sure to let everyone in the comments know that he already “submitted both guys” in the past. He also repeated old accusations on his former teammate, saying “both men in this photo are on steroids.”
It’s also worth noting that when the initial PED accusations started after their match, Rodriguez took an impromptu drug test to debunk Gordon Ryan’s statements.
Like he pointed out, Gordon Ryan does have wins over both WNO 27 headliners. He survived Rodriguez breaking his foot to get an overtime win at UFC FPI 3, and he also choked out Duarte at the IBJJF Pans back in 2018.
Those wins were from three and seven years ago though, long before Duarte and Rodriguez won their major titles. Rodriguez won the inaugural CJI title last year, while Duarte won four ADCC titles in 2019, 2022 and during his biggest showing in 2024.
Winning that ADCC absolute tournament supposedly set up Duarte for a match against Ryan next. But with Ryan mostly inactive and sidelined in recent years, the two openweight champions instead faced each other at WNO 27, which Rodriguez ended up winning.
While he has picked a lot of fights on social media, Gordon Ryan has been far less active and more selective of his opponents on the mat as of late. The decorated BJJ star is still just 29-years-old, but has been dealing with serious health issues for years now.
While he has yet to make any official announcement on a possible retirement, his coach John Danaher recently stated that the “very sick” Gordon Ryan probably won’t compete again.
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This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
