Gordon Ryan is currently the best No-Gi grappler in the world, Change my Mind

[yetanother]

I would also argue that Gordon has had a better no gi career, Pena was for a long time primarily a gi guy so it's a big part of that.

 

[imarayda]

50% of me is with your argument. The other 50% thinks competing in 3x as many nogi matches against better competition, across more rule sets, with 3x as many submissions over high level names should count for something.

They each have one ADCC gold medal each. Gordon has much more recent nogi worlds medals and Pena has never done nogi pans, Ebi, etc.

And yes I know Gordon has lost to him twice.

Pena is the better overall grappler and is better than Gordon in their head to head matches. As a “no gi grappler” I think Gordon has sharper no gi technique and more quality wins in that realm.

But yeah you’re right there’s something to be said for the ric flair approach.

In terms of no-gi adcc is the only relevant one. All of those other rule sets are gimicks. Pena bested him at the most recent adcc, until they compete against each other again it’s going to be hard for him to overcome that. On a side note the improvements in Gordon’s game over the last two years are amazing.

 

[McA]

Unquestionably, the very best no gi grapplers in the world are silverback gorillas. Gordon would have zero chance.

 

[yetanother]

Unquestionably, the very best no gi grapplers in the world are silverback gorillas. Gordon would have zero chance.

Not sure. Firstly can they understand adcc rules to prevent getting dq? Secondly can a gorilla win against a bear?

 

[mataleaos]

In terms of no-gi adcc is the only relevant one. All of those other rule sets are gimicks. Pena bested him at the most recent adcc, until they compete against each other again it’s going to be hard for him to overcome that. On a side note the improvements in Gordon’s game over the last two years are amazing.

I'm tossing a like because at heart I agree with you. But ADCC is the best because of the level of competition that you see there. I would argue that Gordon has faced truly high level competition in other events. NoGi Worlds for example he faced guys like Cyborg, Yuri Simoes, and Jackson Sousa. Quintet he faces Josh Barnett, Marcos Souza, and Craig Jones. NoGi Pans he faced Kaynan Duarte.

So these are good opponents. It's not like EBI where he there would only be 2-4 really good guys in any given 16-man bracket. And we can clown on EBI but Vagner Rocha, Craig Jones, Josh Hayden, Rustam Chsiev, and Yuri Simoes are all highly skilled guys.

I'm just saying that if you put a list of who has beaten who, Gordon's win list in no gi is more impressive than Pena's.

 

[rmongler]

Not sure. Firstly can they understand adcc rules to prevent getting dq? Secondly can a gorilla win against a bear?

Gorillas are free to a double leg, those chumps have no TDD.