Victory in texas!! Gordon Ryan won a great match here in Houston tonight against the great wrestling champion, Bo Nickal via stranglehold – as he predicted – using a well applied triangle from bottom position. Most of the match was spent on the feet in Mr Nickals domain. He showed his mastery of hand fighting and takedown defense against conventional takedowns. However, Mr Ryan was able to take him down three times in standing position with the scissor takedown – kani basami – and took it to the floor and scored a sweep from the ashi garami position (leg locks were not allowed in this match otherwise it would have been over with the first kani basami). Mr Nickal intelligently timed his first genuine takedown attempt until late in the match to minimize the time spent on the ground – Mr Ryan's domain. With around three minutes left he performed a beautiful belly to back suplay and then had to survive three minutes on the floor. Unfortunately he was facing the best submission grappler on the planet and quickly got locked up in a triangle. As the triangle tightened he stood to try to pull out. Mr Ryan employed a classic squad dilemma – he attacked an arm lock from the triangle, forcing Mr Nickal to go forward to relieve pressure on the arm. Mr Nickal intelligently went forward with a heavy slam, hoping to loosen the triangle. Mr Ryan curled his body to reduce the impact and tightened the strangle as they landed getting a dramatic finish to a great match. It was great to see this cross over match between two great athletes from two separate, but closely related sports in a rule set that gave both a good chance. Congratulations to Gordon Ryan for another fine performance in what has been an incredible second half of the year after a disastrous start with a severe knee injury and surgery. Hope you all enjoyed the show!! Now it's back to NYC to get everyone ready for more challenges! Wishing you all the best from Texas!
