All’s well that ends well, so says Gordon Ryan.
Earlier this month, Ryan took on Nicky Rodriguez at the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 3 in a rematch of an ADCC bout from September that saw Ryan win by heel hook. This time, Ryan won a hard-fought victory based on escape time in overtime, notching his 44th win in a row in grappling competition. But what makes the victory even more impressive is that just 24 hours beforehand he was rolling around with two of the strongest men in the world.
The day before his match with Rodriguez, Ryan did some live rolling with the 2018 and 2019 World’s Strongest Man winners, Hafthor Bjornsson and Martins Licis. Ryan is widely considered to be one of, if not the best grappler in the world at the moment, and at 6-foot-2 and over 200 pounds, he’s not tiny. Ryan acknowledged that it wasn’t the best decision, but he spoke this week at The MMA Hour .
“Probably the dumbest and most risky career choice I’ve ever made, because it was the day before I was supposed to compete, and I was like, man, if I get hurt, [coach] John [Danaher] is going to kill me,” Ryan said. So I said that I was not drilling with them. “So I told them I wasn’t drilling with them.
“They were my training partners, and Martins used to wrestle so they have some great instincts. He has a good base, he’s hard to sweep, he’s super strong, he’s a lot more compact than Thor. Thor’s a lot bigger and longer. Obviously, just the strongest guys you’re ever going touch from every position, but believe it or not, the mechanics and the body position mean a lot more than the overall strength. You will feel weaker if you don’t have the right strength. I’ve trained with so many guys who are so strong in the gym, but they feel like children on the mats. This is a strange way of translating. They are clearly strong at the gym, as well as on the mats. However, I have trained before with bodybuilders and it is difficult to feel truly strong without proper body positioning.
“It was an amazing experience, I wasn’t hurt thank God and it paid off. I gained a lot of Instagram followers.
A multiple-time world champion and undefeated since 2018, Ryan has become the face of submission grappling over the past couple of years. Ryan, known as “King”, has talked about his sense of duty and how he feels it is to “push Jiu-jitsu above the hump into mainstream.” Ryan also said that he had already discussed with new friends the idea of getting them involved in the sport of jiu jitsu in a way that will elevate the sport.
” They’re amazing guys,” Ryan stated. “They’re super, super strong, especially Martins, who has a very good base, is hard to deal with. So now I’m trying to convince them to do six months of training and do another jiu-jitsu match with another strongman, because that would be great for the sport.”
Although Licis isn’t a competitor in Strongman events outside of them, Bjornsson has experience with combat sports. The actor who played the role of “The Mountain” on Game of Thrones has been involved in professional boxing. He won a unanimous victory over Eddie Hall in March. This means that Bjornsson may be interested in a grappling contest.
But even if nothing comes of it other than his many new Instagram followers, Ryan says at the very least he finally has a definitive retort to the trolls who plague him.
“This works for me. When I’m in an argument with someone who says, “I’m too strong for this s*** to work for me,” I’ll be like: “Well, I literally wrestled the strongest person of the planet and it worked .'”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/12/24/23517714/gordon-ryan-training-worlds-strongest-men-hafthor-bjornsson-martins-licis-it-was-a-great-experience?rand=96749
