Gordon Ryan vs Kyle Boehm Preview, and 3 Interesting Matchups to Crown Number 1
With all three main card matchups finalized for this latest Who’s Number One (WNO) card we take a look at Gordon Ryan Vs. Kyle Boehm, his brother Nicky Ryan Vs. Tye Ruotolo, and Ethan Crelinsten vs Kade Ruotolo, and dive into why each of these matches are compelling for their own reasons.
Gordon Ryan Vs. Kyle Boehm Main Event Heavyweight Match
This is a no time limit submission only matchup, a first for a WNO card.
Both Gordon and Kyle have gone back and forth for a while in interviews and on social media, with Kyle saying that Gordon was avoiding him. The two were scheduled to face each other at the Third Coast Grappling and GrappleFest crossover event scheduled for May 2020, until the event was cancelled due to global shutdown and travel restrictions. Prior to this the two were announced for a tag team matchup on Submission Underground where Nick Rodriguez replaced Gordon, and teammate Craig Jones.
Kyle Takes On EBI Rules
With Gordon participating in fewer EBI style events recently, Kyle has seemingly taken his place as the heavyweight EBI rules champ; winning both BJJ Fanatics GP events back to back, in the EBI format. BJJ Fanatics GP is currently the largest promotion featuring the highest level of talent using the EBI rules tournament format. (Gordon was scheduled to be a participant in the BJJ Fanatics GP, but later ended up being a commentator for the event, citing a rib injury) Gordon has been complementary of Kyle’s skills in the EBI format prior to the BJJ Fanatics GP event, saying in an interview on Nov 14th 2019 that Kyle’s specific training made him one of the event favorites. With Kyle’s victories in these events it seemingly makes him the new EBI rules grappler to beat.
Style Vs Style
Given Gordon’s style, record, and opposition beat, it is hard to bet against him, especially in his preferred format of no time limit sub only, but Kyle has had a few big upset wins recently. Including a controversial heel hook victory over Joao Gabriel Rocha at Kasai Pro 7. A grappler that Gordon edged out via points in early 2019 and injured his own knee in the process. The way Gordon worked his passing against Tex Johnson recently at the now defunct Sub Stars promotions last event shows that he might implement a similar strategy here against Kyle. Gordon does not tend to get into leg lock shootouts with other leg lock specialists, and will strategically put the fight into another phase where he can showcase his other skills. This can be seen in Gordons matches with Lachlan Giles, and Garry Tonon at ADCC 2019, all three of his matches with Craig Jones, and his most recent No Time Limit Sub Only match with Tex Johnson.
Kyle has been active since receiving his Black Belt shortly after winning the BJJ Fanatics Brown Belt GP Kyle has 6 submission wins with 4 of these wins being by outside heel hook. Kyles only losses have come as points losses in the last 6 months under the Kasai Pro points system.
Gordon has only one submission loss in his 4-year black belt career. This submission loss came as part of a no time limit match with 2017 ADCC absolute champion Felipe Pena back in 2016, since then no one has submitted Gordon Ryan in competition. This match will decide who takes the number one spot in the heavyweight rankings.
Nicky Ryan Vs Tye Ruotolo
Both teenagers who took home wins at ADCC 2019, In ADCC 2017 Nicky Ryan was the youngest grappler ever entered into the event. These are the two most decorated teens in No-Gi at the moment. This is a matchup that we are likely to see multiple times over the years if both decide to keep competing. Tye has looked very good recently on the Fight to Win stage taking a close decision victory over Vagner Rocha and losing a close match with also top world tanked Dante Leon on GrappleFest. In 2019 Tye also took 4th place ADCC 2019 nearly kneebaring Paulo Miyao in the event.
This is the quintessential hot prospect matchup to figure out who the best professional colored belt teen in the world is. Both have very different styles and with the leg pinning game of Tye having been developed even more in the last year this could be interesting if Nicky decides to pull. Nicky has a win over Tye’s twin brother Kade at the ADCC West Coast Trials 2019. Nicky would go on to win this event and his ADCC 2019 slot.
Ethan Crelinstenvs Kade Ruotolo
A fun matchup between up and comers Ethan has shown recently that he is one of the best no-gi leg lockers in BJJ. He also keeps a crazy fast pace in his matches, and is willing to throw up submissions in all phases, taking wins by Triangle, Heel Hook, RNC, Armbar, and more in the past few years. He does not neglect passing, and positional work ending matches with points victories and finishes on the back not infrequently. Ethan is the only Brown belt in the history of BJJ Heroes to have a Heroes page. This speaks to the caliber of grappler he is.
Image Courtesy of GGL
Kade has a similar style to his brother and also has looked good in performances at GrappleFest, where he took a judge’s decision over veteran Ash Williams, a performance that earned him the 70kg title for the promotion. This match stylistically is much like the above match with Ethan most likely looking to sit, and Kade being forced to pass on the top possibly implanting his leg pinning game. Given Kade’s Grapplefest performance it would not be surprising to see him look to counter off of leg lock entries, work in Darce pass attempts and possibly engage in leg locks of his own.
Ranking Movement Possibility and the Rest of the Card
All the above matches are interesting, and it should be entertaining to watch. All the matches have the potential to shake up the rankings in their respective divisions, which is the point of the Who is Number One Cards. Also being featured lower down the card are matchups between Kody Steele and Alec Baulding, Elizabeth Clay and Chelsah Lyons, and Hunter Colvin vs Andre Gomes Reis.
Check out our event preview in audio form on the Grappling Rewind Podcast episode 134 at the links below. Or watch the video show below.
Written By: Maine Miller