Meanwhile…back in New York City: The squad had a big weekend in London, winning all three bouts at Polaris 5, but back in NYC Gordon Ryan stayed home to compete in The grappling Industries absolute no gi event as part of his adcc preparation. He won first place, taking every match by submission and showing great progress in positional control and linking that with submission skills. Grappling Industries put on a very fine event for local athletes and it was great to Mr Ryan step in and get back on center stage. The advantage of local shows is that they can provide excellent stage experience with no significant interruption to ones training schedule – ideal when the world championships are right around the corner. Moreover, because they are local, they tend to involve matches with known local rivals and thus provide a great measure of progress when you can assess previous matches versus current matches. As such they are a great resource for athletes to both prepare for big events and gauge their development over time. Here Mr Ryan relaxes on the podium and it seems, looks to gauge his progress in the skills of flexing and posing in addition to his ever growing jiu jitsu skills.
