BREAKING NEWS: Gordon Ryan will make his
debut in ONE Championship against Shinya Aoki in an openweight
grappling super match on August 27!— Chatri Sityodtong (@yodchatri)
May 10, 2021
Gordon
Ryan will remain in his element for his first One Championship
foray.
The decorated grappler will face Shinya Aoki
in an “openweight grappling super match” on Aug. 27, One
Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced Monday. Official rules
of the contest were not revealed.
Regarded by some as the best pound-for-pound grappler in the world,
Ryan is a three-time ADCC champion, IBJJF no-gi champion and a
four-time Eddie Bravo Invitational champion. In grappling
competition, Ryan has bested the likes of Josh Barnett,
Gabriel
Gonzaga, Rousimar
Palhares, Dillon
Danis and Marcus
Almeida. He is a black belt under Gary Tonon. Ryan signed with
One with the expectation that he would make his MMA debut as well,
but he recently told MMAFighting.com that his current plan is to
remain focused on his grappling career.
Aoki previously competed in a grappling bout under the
Singapore-based promotion’s banner, tapping to a Tonon heel hook in
May 2017. A former champion in One, Dream and Shooto, Aoki has won
eight of his last nine MMA appearances and is coming off an armbar
submission of Eduard
Folayang in a trilogy bout at One on TNT 4 on April 28.