A rundown of the biggest headlines and news from the world of competitive grappling.

The only thing Gordon Ryan enjoys more than trash talking is backing it up and at No-Gi World Championships, Gordon silenced his detractors with an impressive performance.

Ryan, a black belt under Garry Tonon and John Danaher, has polarized grappling fans since his emergence as a top name in the sport. Ryan’s runs in EBI and his brash social media persona has lead him to be controversial among fans, with some questioning his ability to win at the highest leve. But since Ryan won the ADCCs in 2017, most naysayers faded the obscurity and the ones that remained believed Ryan would be unable to win a world championship under the IBJJF ruleset.

The IBJJF bans reaping and heel hooks, both of which are techniques that Ryan and the Danaher Death Squad have been known to implement and by entering the IBJJF No-Gi Worlds Ryan was unable to use his full game. With heel hooks unavailable, Ryan played an impeccable guard game throughout the tournament and scored impressive victories over Yuri Simoes (x2), Jackson Souza, and Patrick Gaudio, among others.

The biggest talking point of the weekend came when Ryan was pitted against Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu in the absolute division finals. Bad blood had been building between the pair on social media in previous months and when the pair met, Cyborg refused to engage on the ground and threw some slaps in Ryan’s guard before being disqualified for inactivity.

Check out the black belt division results below:

ROOSTER // MALE

1. Nobuhiro Sawada

2. Livio Ribeiro

3. Kristian Woodmansee

3. Ronald Henderson

LIGHT FEATHER // MALE

1. João Miyao

2. Tomoyuki Hashimoto

3. Cleber Sousa

3. Hiago George

FEATHER // MALE

1. Kennedy Maciel

2. Gilson Nunes

3. Ian Sanders

3. Pablo Mantovani

LIGHT // MALE

1. Gianni Grippo

2. Márcio André

3. Frederico Silva

3. Rodrigo Freitas

MIDDLE // MALE

1. Hugo Marques

2. Jaime Canuto

3. Dante Leon

3. Manuel Ribamar

MEDIUM-HEAVY // MALE

1. Josh Hinger

2. Marcos Tinoco

3. Matheus Diniz

3. Murilo Santana

HEAVY // MALE

1. Tim Spriggs

2. Jackson Sousa

3. Devhonte Johnson

3. Thiago Sá

SUPER-HEAVY // MALE

1. Kaynan Duarte

2. James Puopolo

3. Patrick Gaudio

3. Eliot Kelly

ULTRA-HEAVY // MALE

1. Gordon Ryan

2. Roberto Abreu

3. Yuri Simões

3. Max Gimenis

ABSOLUTE // MALE

1. Gordon Ryan

2. Yuri Simões

3. Jackson Sousa

3. Thiago Sá

LIGHT FEATHER // FEMALE

1. Mayssa Bastos

2. Patricia Fontes

3. Miriam Cerqueira

3. Sofia Amarante

FEATHER // FEMALE

1. Ffion Davies

2. Amanda Monteiro

3. Jessica Cristina Santos

3. Heather Raftery

LIGHT // FEMALE

1. Catherine Perret

2. Tammi Musumeci

3. Michelle Nicolini

3. Jena Bishop

MIDDLE // FEMALE

1. Beatriz Mesquita

2. Ana Carolina Vieira

3. Leoni Munslow

3. Sarah Kaufman

MEDIUM-HEAVY // FEMALE

1. Luanna Alzuguir

2. Claudia Doval

3. Anna Nordeno

3. Amanda Loewen

HEAVY // FEMALE

1. Nathiely de Jesus

2. Maria Malyjasiak

3. Andressa Correa

3. N/A

SUPER-HEAVY // FEMALE

1. Jessica Flowers

2. Nina Moura

3. Alejandra Gonzalez

3. N/A

ABSOLUTE // FEMALE

1. Beatriz Mesquita

2. Jessica Flowers

3. Anna Nordeno

3. Amanda Loewen

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