Gordon Ryan vs Shinya Aoki set for August in the ONE Circle
Gordon Ryan vs Shinya Aoki goes down in ONE Championship competition this summer.
ONE figurehead Chatri Sityodtong took to his personal social media to announce the news of the grappling super fight.
BREAKING NEWS: Gordon Ryan will make his debut in ONE Championship against Shinya Aoki in an openweight grappling super match on August 27!
Posted by Chatri Sityodtong on Monday, May 10, 2021
There will be quite the size disparity here as Ryan has successes in the 99 kg and absolute divisions while Aoki competes at 170lbs in MMA.
Aoki’s last submission grappling super fight under the ONE Championship banner actually took place against a teammate of Ryan’s. Shinya Aoki lost via heel hook in May 2017 to Garry Tonon at ONE Championship: Dynasty of Heroes.
Shinya Aoki has been competing mostly in MMA lately and is currently riding a four-fight win streak in that discipline. He is the number two ranked lightweight within the ONE Circle as of this writing.
Gordon Ryan vs Shinya Aoki
With Ryan being an ADCC gold medalist and multi-time EBI champion with over 140 BJJ wins, many martial arts fans are clamoring for him to make the transition to MMA.
Per Gordon Ryan, via The Joe Rogan Experience, his teacher John Danaher doesn’t want Ryan in MMA right away. Because he sees an upcoming swell in broader popularity for Jiu-Jitsu.
Ryan also echoed a sentiment regarding wanting to see his teammates have similar successes in submission grappling before he makes the full-time transition into mixed-martial-arts competition.
Gordon Ryan’s deal with ONE Championship allows for concurrent competitive opportunities within both MMA and submission grappling.
It remains to be seen when Ryan will don the four-ounce gloves and embark on an MMA foray. But his debut effort in ONE is mapped out all the same.
Who do you think wins when Gordon Ryan vs Shinya Aoki goes down?
