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Gordon Ryan has accused Andre Galvao of ducking him on multiple occasions, including in his latest promotion, ONE Championship.
Galvao recently joined ONE Championship’s heavyweight roster to compete in both submission grappling and mixed martial arts. The promotion made the announcement a couple of weeks ago and the 39-year-old appears ready to make a splash in the Asian organization.
Gordon Ryan himself made headlines when he announced he was joining ONE Championship earlier this year for the same reasons. However, in a recent Instagram post, Gordon Ryan took a hard swipe at Galvao once again.
“Andres been declining matches with me since 2016 in all different organizations. He can now add @onechampionship to his list.”
Gordon Ryan claims Galvao has avoided him on multiple occasions and will continue to avoid him even with the two fighters now signed to the same promotion.
Gordon Ryan, Andre Galvao and the slap heard around the world
Following Gordon Ryan’s February victory over Roberto Jimenez at the Who’s #1 grappling event, things got heated between the American and his Brazilian rival. Tensions eventually led to Gordon Ryan slapping Galvao across the face twice, which was caught on video by FloCombat and went viral in the grappling community.
In an earlier interview with MMA Fighting, Gordon Ryan had this to say about the incident:
“I walked through the sheets and Andre is just sitting there, almost like he’s waiting for me. He started cursing at me, and this is weird because it’s sort of off-character for him because there’s no cameras around — or he thought there wasn’t. So he started calling me a b*tch and a p*ssy, and I just started laughing. And then he started walking towards me and he was like, ‘Why are you running away?’ So I was like, I can’t get punked like this. So I turn around and tell him I’m not running, and he kept walking up to me and pushed me. That’s the most you can do before there’s a fight so I’m assuming there’s gonna be a fist fight. So let me start off this fist fight with a smack and see how he responds. I smacked him the first time and there was no retaliation of any kind so I knew this guy doesn’t want to fight.”
Here’s the viral video:
Gordon Ryan and Andre Galvao are set to meet on the mats next year in a superfight at ADCC. The event takes place on September 17 and 18, 2022 at the Thomas and Mack Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The matchup promises fans a high-level showcase of grappling mastery, in addition to the incredible hype and buildup, with the two BJJ legends finally throwing down.
There’s a long way to go from now until September 2022, and with both fighters signed to ONE Championship, anything is possible.
Gordon Ryan has expressed interest in transitioning to MMA eventually, and he’s chosen ONE to make that happen. Meanwhile, Galvao is a former Strikeforce veteran with a 5-2 record. Could the two figure in an MMA match before they grapple at ADCC? Only time will tell.
