The incredible achievement of Gordon Ryan: This weekend at the adcc World Championships Gordon Ryan won both his weight division and absolute to take double gold medals. After competing only twice in ADCC he has three gold medals and a silver and is only 24 years old. With six out of eight matches finished by submission (and a seventh where a submission was just seconds away as the match ended) this was an incredibly dominating performance that exemplified our philosophy of control leading to submission. What was truly remarkable about this performance is that it came after a severe knee injury early in the year that required major surgery. The camp for the event started twelve weeks ago. Gordon Ryan began with everyone else but could not do any standing grappling and I restricted him to only the most low impact training. Our understanding was that he would do the camp alongside the others but in a very low powered fashion with the assumption that he would not actually do the event but rather aim to compete around December. For most of the camp he really struggled and had some days where he did not shine at all. Finally four weeks before ADCC he started to look comfortable. Three weeks out he had one session where he looked like the old Gordon Ryan. Two weeks out he looked BETTER than the old Gordon Ryan. Then after a great end to the camp – the night before the competition he got food poisoning!! There was real doubt about whether he would be able to compete again! He actually weighed in very light for both days but the nausea settled and the rest of the story you know – complete domination. Let this camp be a light to those who think problems, injuries and obstacles are destroying their chances. Problems can hold you back, but time and industry can build the hope and belief that can overcome them all. Well done Mr Ryan. Twelve weeks ago i was a skeptic, but like everyone else In the Anaheim convention center and around the world – you made me a believer.
