2020 WNO: Gordon Ryan vs Kyle Boehm

Grappling Bulletin: Gordon Ryan Continues Reign, Batista Crushes Opposition

Grappling Bulletin: Gordon Ryan Continues Reign, Batista Crushes Opposition

Two major events means we have plenty to talk about. Here's a rundown of the best action of the weekend.

Jun 8, 2020 by Hywel Teague
Grappling Bulletin: Gordon Ryan Continues Reign, Batista Crushes Opposition
Two major events means we have plenty to talk about. Here's a rundown of the best action of the weekend.

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Two major events means we have plenty to talk about. Here's a rundown of the best action of the weekend.

WNO: Gordon Ryan vs Kyle Boehm 

The three marquee matches on WNO were wild, and there were some solid supporting acts on the undercard, too. Here's a link to the match videos, results, and post-event interviews

Gordon reigns supreme 

Love or hate him — and Gordon has seemingly equal numbers of rabid fans and seething haters — he is the no.1 P4P no-gi grappler in the world for good reason. He hasn't lost since 2018, has won 35 of his last 37 matches (two were draws), and 27 of those ended via submission. Weight and absolute ADCC champ in 2019, weight and absolute IBJJF World champ in 2018, Gordon's got enough gold medals he could melt them down into a crown. 

You may not like it, but Gordon is the king of no-gi grappling. And it doesn't look like anybody is going to dethrone him any time soon. 

Yes, Kyle Boehm was doping 

We already pointed out that Kyle Boehm publicly shared on his IG story a video of him munching on what looked like a magic mushroom. The day after, Eddie Bravo confirmed Boehm had indeed swallowed a funky fungus. "Oh yeah, he was microdosing. I've got lots of guys that do that," he told us. 

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Tye Ruotolo called out Garry Tonon in the nicest possible way

And Garry is into it. Tonon recognizes that the way for young up-and-comers to make their way in this game, they have to challenge the established hierarchy. Tonon is an ADCC bronze medalist, but just a few years ago he was right where Tye is now – taking names, and calling for bigger matches against tough opponents. 

Tonon was matside to see Ruotolo beat his teammate Nicky Ryan, and he didn't discount Tye's challenge. Let's hope we get to see it happen soon. 

Fight to Win has a scoring system... but almost nobody knew

Including me, who was commentating. Apparently this is a relatively new development. Submission attacks are awarded a points value based on how deep they were. A deep sub gets five points, while a weak submission attack gets one point. Slams get a point too, but passing the guard or mounting somebody gets zero. 

I didn't know this, and neither did Ethan Crelinsten, who the majority of people believe deserved the decision against Kade Ruotolo. Was there a miscommunication, or a misinterpretation of the rules? Either way, it was a tough loss to swallow for the Canadian, who twice mounted Ruotolo and methodically attacked for leg locks. Ruotolo's brief armlock and estima lock attempts accumulated enough points with the refs for him to take the unanimous decision. There's a lesson in all this, somewhere. 

Best of the rest

Kody Steele vs Alec Baulding was a ton of fun – wrestle-jitsu at its finest. Elisabeth Clay is a nasty girl, ripping on an outside heel hook for submission of the night. 


Third Coast Grappling: Kumite 

An u180lb gi tournament that featured three world champions, rising stars, dark horses, and more? It turned out to be a lot of fun and delivered some stunning results. Click here for match videos

Batista is rock solid

Andre Galvao once described Batista to me as "like a little train." He just keeps chugging along, picking up momentum as he goes. He had a tough first match against the perennial dark horse Jaime Canuto, which seemed to serve as a good warm-up because he went on to beat two-time IBJJF World champ Gabriel Arges in the next round, passing his guard twice. 

He then did the same thing to Roberto Jimenez in the final, and barely conceded a single technique. Really impressive stuff. As much as I hate to brag, I'm feeling pretty good because the bracket played out exactly how I predicted. If only I was a betting man. 

Jimenez is a firecracker

Never, ever count this kid out. Once again he proved that he is one of the most dangerous young black belts in the game. Since being promoted he's taken some impressive scalps– he submitted Fellipe Andrew and outpointed Keenan Cornelius. 

Jimenez opened up his 3CG campaign with an opportunistic armbar vs Manuel Ribamar, and followed by tapping out his Pedro Marinho with a much more calculated and patient armlock that came from a very nice closed guard set-up. Really nice stuff. 

It's great to see the gi

OK so it's not a "traditional" gi tournament, but it didn't matter. It was so good seeing familiar faces back in the gi and throwing down. I love superfights, don't get me wrong, but it made me realize how much I missed seeing somebody fight through a tough bracket. More, please. 


Coming soon on FloGrappling 

Fight to Win 143 | June 13

Featuring Victor Hugo vs Fellipe Andrew and Nathiely de Jesus vs Ana Carolina Vieira! 

Jitzking | June 13 

The Florida promotion is back with a 16-man middleweight tournament. Check out the line-up here, you won't want to miss it.