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The ongoing drama between ONE submission grappler and 2022 ADCC open-weight bronze medalist Tye Ruotolo and No-Gi jiu-jitsu icon Gordon Ryan is about to reach fever pitch.
It started with Ruotolo sending a cheeky yet bold callout of 'The King' on social media:
“Remember that Darce at Modolfo? It would be competitive now and I’m 19 and natural. I guarantee you retire before I gain 15 pounds. Pure facts, no ill intent. Let’s do the same deal you did with Pena. No time limit.”
The word Ruotolo threw out that got everyone going was "natural." Ryan has been accused of using steroids in the past and the 19-year-old marvel is undoubtedly taking a swipe at the 2022 ADCC +99 and Superfight world champion.
Ryan, seemingly ignoring the steroid quip, commented on the post with:
"How about you put up your 50k win bonus from ONE and I'll put up my same 100k that I did with pena? 2-1 odds no time limit. Just remember, I'm not Josh hinger, and you couldn't beat him."
A new development in the saga recently appeared when Ruotolo made another (lengthier) social media post pointing at Gordon Ryan:
"You said you would love a match with us and mentioned that if you were natural and I was roided that I would have no chance, which I took as (a call out) That post had nothing to do with you but you came to talk sh*t so I replied. I find it funny because you had never won anything before gaining 50+ lbs of synthetic muscle. I didn’t reply to your comment to get into a keyboard war. I was replying to have a match with you."
He continued:
"I said that our match would be 100% competitive and you disagreed. Your claim sounds stupid to me considering I beat Pedro in half the time you did, not to mention I’m 1-0 against Pena to your 1-2. I’ll give you the toughest fight you’ve had since your supernatural transformation. This isn’t about certain stipulations for me, I have never brought up numbers online and I never said."
The post went on for longer, but Ruotolo ended it with an ominous sentence:
"I have better things to do but if you want to keep up with the disrespect I hope you keep that same energy when I see you in person."
Here's the post:
Gordon Ryan replies to Tye Ruotolo's lengthy social media rants towards him
Never to be out-ranted or trash-talked, Gordon Ryan responded back by posting a comment on Ruotolo's Instagram post:
"I didn't mention either of your names in any comments until you mentioned mine. You then asked for same set up as pena, which was 10-1 odds no time limit. Are you really referencing how long it took me to beat Pedro? When I was half as good as I am in 2019 I heel hooked him in under 2 minutes... when I wanted to finish him fast. We just gonna forget about that one, right ?"
He continued:
"It doesn't matter if you're natural or not to me, do whatever helps you sleep at night. What helps me sleep at night is knowing my mattress is made of money and GOLD medals, and btw I thunk we have 2 different ideas of what a "great" paycheck is here buddy. And as always, I'm nice in person if you're nice to me. If you're not, your whole team knows this story."
The reply went on longer but things are definitely getting heated. Near the end of that statement, Gordon Ryan referenced his high-profile rivalry with Ruotolo's mentor, Andre Galvao.
Gordon Ryan's rivalry with Galvao was perhaps the most documented and talked about in the sport's history. It involved epic social media trash-talking, verbal back-and-forths, and physical altercations outside the mats.
Gordon Ryan, however, put his rivalry with Galvao to bed when he handily submitted the Brazilian grappling icon in this year's ADCC. It's the the same night Ruotolo beat Ryan's other rival, Felipe Pena. This is a developing story and we're all eager to see where it goes.
Perhaps the young lion wants to avenge the loss of his fallen master? The plot thickens.
