The reigning no.1 jiu-jitsu fighter, Gordon Ryan, may once have entertained the prospect of entering the world of MMA, but no longer. Ryan pointed out in a recent appearance on The MMA Hour that he’s making more than enough money from grappling to stay in the sport, and sees it as his responsibility to elevate the sport to the next level where other athletes can achieve the same.
“I don’t know. John [Danaher] has never been wrong. Our coach has never been wrong about anything. He’s never been wrong. He’s told me things and whether it be five years or three years or seven years later, he always ends up being right, and John is like, ‘Absolutely do not go into MMA.
Gordon Ryan Refuses MMA Move
You already make a ton of money doing this, you’re considered the greatest of all time already, and jiu-jitsu is about to become mainstream, and once it becomes mainstream everyone is going to get paid more and jiu-jitsu is going to be a real sport. You’re the forefront of that and if you move to MMA now, that could be lost.’ So I don’t know. Maybe if one of the other guys from the team wins an ADCC Absolute or something.
I’ve always wanted to fight MMA, but I’m in such a good position now and I feel like it’s kind of my job to push jiu-jitsu over the hump into the mainstream. So I’m not totally ruling it out but I’m pretty comfortable with just grappling right now.”
Ryan won’t be following other grappling luminaries such as Royce Gracie or Jacare Souza into the world of MMA because he sees himself as the rising tide capable of lifting all boats.
“I’m like the Mayweather or McGregor of jiu-jitsu. I don’t make nearly as much money as them, but in proportion to the rest of the guys. But my goal in the next five to 10 years is to have athletes, at least with purses — most of my money comes from instructionals.
Most of my jiu-jitsu money comes from instructional videos, so I don’t think anyone is going to make as much money teaching as I do, because I think I’m a much better teacher, but I do think that in the next five to 10 years, athletes could be making similar money to what I’m making now just through competition purses.
I think that an athlete in jiu-jitsu in the next five to 10 years should be making over $1 million a year just competing. And if we can do that, I think we’ll have something going for us.”
Should Gordon Ryan enter the Octagon one day, or is he better off sticking to jiu-jitsu? Let us know in the comments.
