Gordon Ryan Wins Kasai Super Series By Points; Complete Results Posted

February 2, 2019

After around five hours of super fights and submissions the Kasai Super Series in Dallas has its complete winner’s circle.

Gordon Ryan pulled out a victory over Joao Gabriel Rocha by a single point, having injured his knee in the early minutes of the fight and hindering his usually aggressive ground game. The first two minutes of the super fight showcased two high level competitors at home in their respective standup skills, which ended when Rocha threw Ryan off the edge of the mat into the front row. At the reset Ryan moved the fight to the ground with guard, hitting the very first sweep of the fight around the 5:30 mark with an arm drag, reversed by Gabriel. That was swiftyly reversed back in favor of Ryan, beginning a back and forth–Ryan hunting for kimuras and backtakes, Rocha seeking submissions in between battles out of Ryan’s guard–which ran the initial 10-minute clock all the way down with no scores. Standing back up at overtime with point scoring back in play, Ryan sat to guard and surged into a heel hook. Though Rocha escaped, Ryan scored 1 point for the submission attempt. At the final minute mark Gabriel motored in an attempt to pass but didn’t fully escape Ryan…though he thought he did, expressing disbelief when the match was called for Ryan.

“Guys, who do you think win today?” Joao asked the audience during his post fight interview, getting cheers back in response. One distressed fan in the audience could be heard yelling “this is bulls***” over and over, but Ryan’s submission attempt was clear and Rocha’s pass was not, which means the two are poised for a heated rematch whenever Kasai pulls the trigger on that.

Other big wins and loses punctuated one of the better live grappling events we’ve had recently. In a split second, just long enough for Bastos to slip in a sneaky trip, Tom Deblass lost the final installment of the pair’s “trilogy” of fights by points. Married fighters Raquel and Renato Canuto both left Dallas victorious, Raquel winning by points over Chelsea Lyons and Renato submitting Marcio Andre by heel hook. And one of the best fights of the night went to the ladies, with Andressa Cintra and Jessica Swanson duking it out in a kinetic gi match which came down to points.

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Tonight I had the honor of competing agaisnt a legend in @jgrocha who has medaled in evey major comp there is and has wins over basically everyone. We had a tightly contested match for 10 min sub only and a 5 min points ot. I managed to win by 1 point for a deep heel hook attempt. Mid way through regulation I badly injured my left knee on an attempted cross ashi entrance. I went to elevate as he sprawled and there was 5 or 6 pops in half a second or so. From then on I had 0 stability in the left knee and playing certain positions were impossible. This is the 1st time I've been badly injured in competition and glad I was able to keep a good poker face for the match at least 😂. I hope you guys enjoyed the match and I'm sorry I didnt the sub as I always look for. Thank you joao for another tough match and cant wait to do it again 🙏🏻. @flograppling @kasaigrappling @hypnotik @musclepharm @mpcombat @cbdistillery_ @nfqofficial @gymking @studio540 @kimerakoffee @kimurasoapco.

A post shared by Gordon King Ryan (@gordonlovesjiujitsu) on Feb 2, 2019 at 10:39pm PST