Gordon Ryan

By Press Release

Former ADCC World and IBJJF Nogi World champion,
Gordon “The King” Ryan, and ADCC Asia champion and Oceania gold medalist,
Lachian Giles, were beasts this past Friday night in Anaheim, California, at the inaugural Kinektic submission grappling, one-night tournament, leading their team, BJJ Fanatics, to the coveted title.

UFC FIGHT PASS®, the world’s leading digital subscription service for combat sports, streamed all the action live from Anaheim Business Expo Center.

The Kinektic team formatted event featured four competing squads, each comprised of five world-class grapplers, in a tournament consisting of semifinals and a championship final. The one-night Kinektic tournament consisted of bouts with eight-minute time limits. Losers of the semifinal matches were eliminated; as well as fighters whose matches ended in draws. Teams with five members eliminated were forced out of the competition.

A feature unique to Kinektic Grappling is that the order in which athletes compete was not predetermined. There were thirty seconds between each bout and each team captain was responsible for strategically deciding which team member participated next. All members of each team must compete at least once. Team captains had the option to compete for their team; Craig Jones (Team BJJ Fanatics) and Chris “Lights Out” Lytle (Team Lights Out Urban Achievers) did so for their respective teams.

Kinektic is the brainchild of UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber, Las Vegas entrepreneur and boxing promoter Keith Veltre, and award-winning announcer Sean Wheelock.

“We are all very happy with our first Kinektic grappling event right across the board,” Veltre said. “Many of the best grapplers in the world put on a great show. The fans there were really into it and we’ve received a lot of positive feedback from grappling fans all around the world who watched on UFC FIGHT PASS. We’re already talking about our next Kinektic event.”

Joining Ryan and Giles on triumphant Team BJJ Fanatics were ADCC Trials bronze medalist Nicky Rodriguez, who won one championship final match, IBJJF World Champion Edwin Najmai and world-class grappler Jones.

Giles, a native of Australia, used a heel hook to defeat four of his five opponents in the semifinals — former UFC Heavyweight Champion Rico Rodriguez, Polaris Welterweight Champion Mansher “Munch” Khera, Grapplers Quest Champion and BJJ black belt Will Weed, and former UFC welterweight Lytle — in addition to using an armbar to beat former WEC Middleweight Champion Joe “Diesel” Rigg.

In the other semifinals team competition, Team SUG, captained by UFC veteran and MMA media personality Chael Sonnen, defeated Team Lionheart, captained by UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith. Jorge “Jorjas” Rodrigues used an armbar to defeat
Pan-American gold medalist Scott Morton, ADCC US Trials gold medalist Enrico “Teen Phenom” Cocco took care of LFA veteran and BJJ black belt Gabriel “Zangrief” Barbosa Checco with a heel hook, and former UFC veteran athlete and PFL light heavyweight Ronny Markes defeated Greco-Roman Wrestling World Champion Joe “The Baddest Maon on the Planet” Warren by way of an arm-triangle, advancing SUG to the championship final.

New Jersey based Ryan, who was a late replacement for injured Jake Shields, closed the show for Team BJJ Fanatics in the championship final, displaying all his vast skills to defeat, in order: Checco (kimura), IBJJF World Championships bronze medalist Rafael Domingos (rear-naked choke), and Guilherme “Bomba” Vasconcelos (guillotine)

Two-time NCAA, Division II All-American wrestler Raufeon “Supa” Stots and Anthony “El Toro” Birchak grappled to a hard-fought draw in the SuperFight. The two grapplers fought during the 8-minute regulation period as well as a 3-minute overtime.

Official results below (individual winners are listed in capital letters):

SEMIFINALS

Team BJJ Fanatics vs. Team Lights Out Urban Achievers

LACHIAN GILES (BJJ Fanatics) heel hook (2:18) Mansher Khera (Light Out Urban Achievers)
(Khera eliminated)

LACHAIN GILES heel hook (5:27) Will Weed (Light Out Urban Achievers)
(Weed eliminated)

LACHIAN GILES armbar (3:40) Joe Riggs ((Lights Out Urban Achievers)
(Riggs eliminated)

LACHAIN GILES heel hook Chris Lytle (Light Out Urban Achievers)
(Lytle eliminated)

LACHIAN GILES heel hook Rico Rodriguez (Lights Out Urban Achievers)
(Rodriguez eliminated)

Team BJJ Fanatics advanced to championship final, Team Lights Out Urban Achievers

Team SUG vs. Team Lionheart

Brian Sparrow (Lionheart) Draw (8:00) Guilherme Vasconcelos (SUG)
(Sparrow and Vasconcelos eliminated)

JORGE RODRIGUEZ (SUG) armbar (5:36) Scott Morton (Lionheart)
(Morton eliminated)

Jorge Rodrigues (SUG) Draw (8:00) James Brasco (Lionheart)
(Rodrigues and Brasco eliminated)

ENRICO COCCO (Lionheart) heel hook (5:13) Rafael Domingos
(Domingos eliminated)

Enrico Cocco Draw (8:00) Gabriel Barbosa Checco
(Cocco and Checco eliminated)

RONNY MARKES (SUG) arm triangle (3:25) Joseph Warren (Lionheart)

Team SUG advanced to championship final, Team Lionheart eliminated)

CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

NICKY RODRIGUEZ (BJJ Fanatics) heel hook (7:23) Jorge Rodrigues SUG)
(Rodrigues eliminated)

Nicky Rodriguez (BJJ Fanatics) Draw (8:00) Ronny Markes (SUG)
(Rodriguez and Markes eliminated)

GORDON RYAN (BJJ Fanatics) kimura (1:25) Gabriel Barbosa Checco (SUG)
(Barbosa eliminated)

GORDON RYAN (BJJ Fanatics) rear-naked choke (5:48) Rafael Domingos (SUG)
(Domingos eliminated)

GORDON RYAN (BJJ Fanatics) guillotine (1:27) Guilherme Vasconcelos (SUG)
(Vasconcelos eliminated)

BJJ FANATICS WON TEAM TITLE

SUPER FIGHT

Raufeon Stots Draw (11:00) Antony Birchak