Double gold for Gordon Ryan: Gordon Ryan entered the Pan American No Gi championships this weekend in NYC – his first foray into IBJJF competition as a black belt. Despite a rule set that he is still learning he won both his weight division and the absolute – every match by submission. The biggest question of the tournament was what would happen when Mr Ryan matched with the outstanding Atos team champion Kaynan Duarte. Mr Duarte greatly impressed us a year ago at the ADCC world championships and has gotten even better since then. They did not meet in their weight division when Mr Duarte was upset in a close match prior to the finals. Instead they met in the Absolute finals in a very close and tactical match with Mr Ryans pressure proving decisive near the end of the bout when he he utilized the back system once again to win via submission. It was a day of upper body finishes as Mr Ryan used Kimura system and back System to get the breakthrough in every match. When the squad first emerged I would constantly hear people describe them as one trick ponies – I knew that was not true as I teach to attack the whole body – now more and more people are starting to see the same. Great to see Mr Ryan's family support with proud Mom and Dad. Congratulations to Mr Ryan on another stellar performance and thank you to IBJJF @ibjjf for running such a large show with so many athletes in such an efficient manner and getting such a talented pool of competitors in NYC.
