KASAI Super Series: Gordon Ryan Wins Main Event

On Saturday, February 2, 2019, The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas hosted the first KASAI Super series event.  This was the first event KASAI have hosted a show outside of New York, and featured a number of super fights in place of their regular tournaments.  

Gordon Ryan versus Joao Gabriel Rocha

Headlining the event was ADCC Champion and IBJJF No Gi Double Gold World Champion Gordon Ryan versus 2015 ADCC Silver Medalist and IBJJF Gi World Championships Silver Medalist, Joao Gabriel Rocha.  This was a very exciting back and forth match which started with Ryan attempting a single leg on Rocha, only to be counter thrown with both competitors landing off the mat and into the crowd. From there, the competitors reset, and the match was largely played out with Rocha attempting to pass Ryan's guard.  Ryan was able to display his world class guard, fighting off several near pass attempts, while also securing a 1-0 score in overtime, after he was successful in entangling Rocha's legs and attempting a heel hook, which made Rocha escape from the submission (in Kasai's rules- a close submission is worth one point).

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Renato Canuto Defeats Marcio Andre via Heel Hook

In this "co-main" event super fight, two weight division Kasai champion (lightweight and welterweight) Canuto used his exciting guard passing attempts to try to get past Marcio Andre's (IBJJF World No Gi Champion in 2016) world class guard.  Canuto was unable to advance positions but was able to drop back for a heel hook with around 1 minute left of the match. Marcio attempted to free his foot but was unable to do so, tapping to a heel hook in the last moments of the match.

Dante Leon Defeats Matheus Lutes via Rear Naked Choke

In an exciting back and forth welterweight match up, Canadian black belt Dante Leon was able to submit Marcelo Garcia's brown belt star Matheus Lutes.  While the match was exciting, the ending was somewhat controversial as Dante Leon was able to secure a deep rear naked choke on Lutes after Lutes turned his head (and attention) to the referee to argue about points that Leon had scored after he  secured a body triangle from the back (under Kasai rules, the body triangle is worth 4 points- unlike in IBJJF competitions, where the competitor must place hooks in to receive the 4 points).

Main Card Results:

Lucas Valente defeats Rafael "Formiga" Barbosa via decision

Alex Martins defeats Mike Medrano via 8-0

Raquel Canuto defeats Chelsah Lyons via 5-1

Bruno Bastos defeats Tom Deblass via 3-1

Aaron “Tex” Johnson defeats Ricardo “Demente” Abreu via 1-0

Andressa Cintra defeats Jessica Swanson via 4-2

Dante Leon defeats Matheus Lutes via RNC

Renato Canuto defeats Marcio Andre via heel hook

Gordon Ryan defeats Joao Gabriel Rocha via 1-0 in Overtime

Undercard Results:

Jorge Vasquez defeats Ryan Benoit via 7-2

Jessica Crane defeats Meghan Williams via RNC

Conrad Duran defeats Dillon Hinojosa via 3-2

Jeff Horn defeats Leigh Macneil via 18-0

Abdul Karem Al-Selwady defeats Dylan Kastelic 22-0

Kecia Makenzie defeats Nathalia Santoro via armbar

Cameron Adair defeats Franklin Caballo via armbar

Thomas Gentile defeats Javier Zapata via unanimous decision

Diego Santana defeats Jairo Bautista via submission

Dulces Flores Jr. defeats Bobby Alexander 11-2

David Hulsey defeats Benjamin Annunziato via heel

Alan Shebaro defeats Sebastian Black via toehold

Camron Couch defeats Marcus Antelante 3-1

Gordon Ryan

Gordon Ryan was born on July 8th, 1995 in Monroe, NJ.  At the age of 15, he began training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Tom deBlass.  A few months after he began, Gordon met Garry Tonon, who was a newly promoted brown belt and already regarded as a top grappler.  The two became good friends, and when Garry began coaching at the Brunswick BJJ academy, Gordon joined his classes.

Both Gordon and Gary would start travelling to New York City (Manhattan) regularly to train under one of Garry’s mentors- John Danaher.  Under Danaher’s tutelage, both would experience great success and become dominant champions. As a brown belt, Gordon won the IBJJF No Gi World Championships in 2015.  He was promoted to black belt in February 2016 by Garry Tonon, in a ceremony with Tom deBlass, John Danaher and Ricardo Almeida presiding.

ADCC World Champion

In September 2017, Gordon solidified his status as one of the best no gi grapplers in the world as he had an amazing run at ADCC World Championships, taking gold in his 88 kilogram weight category, and placing 2nd in the absolute division.

During his awesome ADCC run, in his weight category (88kg), he defeated Dillon Danis by ref’s decision, tapped out Romulo Barral by Rear Naked Choke, defeated Alexandre Ribeiro by ref’s decision, and tapped Keenan Cornelius in the finals by mounted guillotine.

In the absolute weight class, he tapped Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu by inside heel hook, tapped Craig Jones by armlock, and tapped Mahamed Aly by heel hook.  In the finals, he would face his lone defeat of the tournament, losing to Felipe Pena, 6-0.

Other Notable Wins

After his success ADCC run, Gordon continued his winning ways, tapping our Ralek Gracie in Metamoris, defeating Craig Jones in EBI 14, and tapping Yuri Simoes by Rear Naked Choke in Kasai Pro.  Additionally, Gordon was dominant in the Quintet 3 Tournament, where he lead Team Alpha Male to victory with submission wins over Josh Barnett, Marcos Souza, Craig Jones, and Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro.  

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Most recently, he had an amazing run at the IBJJF World No-Gi Championships, where he won double gold- in his weight class and in the absolute division.  In winning the championships, he defeated the likes of Yuri Simoes, Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu, Patrick Gaudio, and Jackson Sousa.

Main Achievements at Black Belt

• IBJJF World No-Gi Champion (2018) – Weight and Absolute
• ADCC Champion (2017) – Weight
• ADCC 2nd Place (2017) - Absolute
• IBJJF Pans No-Gi Champion (2018) - Weight and Absolute
• Quintet 3 Champion (2018)
• EBI 6 OW Champion (2016)
• EBI 8 MW Champion (2016)
• EBI 11 WW Champion (2017)
• EBI 14 OW Champion (2017)

About Kasai

Kasai Elite Grappling Championships is a "premier competitive professional and amateur Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) promotion, committed to hosting live events featuring the most talented male and female grapplers from around the globe."  This exciting promotion was founded in 2016 by various world famous names in the business and grappling world. Among the executive team are Rolles Gracie, Kasai's president, who is a fourth degree BJJ black belt, and son of legendary Rolls Gracie and Rich Byrne, Kasai's Chief  Executive Officer, who is also the President of Benefit Street Partners and CEO of Business Development Corporation of America and Benefit Street Partners Realty Trust- and a black belt in BJJ as well. Rounding out the executive team are Ken Gelman, Kasai's Chief Operating Officer, who founded G-Funk Sports and Entertainment- with clients including NFL Digital Media, ESPN, National Hockey League, Warner Home Video, and more, and Kenny Florian, Erik Owings, and John Cholish- experts in the BJJ and grappling community.

John Danaher is changing the jiu-jitsu game with his amazing grappling instruction. And, BJJ Fanatics has them all. Get Danaher's DVD " Front Head Locks: Enter The System" and learn from one of the best in the game! Check it out here!

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