Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Gordon Ryan has signed a contract with ONE Championship to compete in both submission grappling and MMA.

ONE Championship founder and CEO Chatri Sityodtong announced the news on Monday that Ryan has signed with Asia’s leading MMA promotion. According to Sityodtong, Ryan’s contract with ONE will allow him to compete in both submission grappling and in mixed martial arts. Check out the official announcement from ONE’s leading executive below.

BREAKING NEWS: Gordon Ryan has signed with ONE Championship for both mixed martial arts and submission grappling!

— Chatri Sityodtong (@yodchatri) March 22, 2021

BREAKING NEWS: Gordon Ryan has signed with ONE Championship for both mixed martial arts and submission grappling!

Ryan is one of the top BJJ practitioners in the world right now so it’s not surprising that he will be competing in submission grappling under the ONE Championship banner. What’s perhaps more surprising is that Ryan will apparently be transitioning into mixed martial arts. At age 25, Ryan has the grappling chops that will give him a tremendous base to start in MMA, but the question about his striking is going to come up now. We know that Ryan is amazing on the ground and if he gets his opponents in ONE down to the mat, he will probably tap them out fairly quickly. But his striking skills still need to be tested, too.

Ryan is far from the first BJJ grappler to make the transition into MMA under the ONE banner. For example, Garry Tonon, another elite grappler from the BJJ community, transitioned into MMA with ONE in 2018 and he has so far gone 6-0 with five wins by way of finish. If Tonon is having that much success in ONE, Ryan must be looking at him and thinking he can do the same thing, as well. Even if his striking isn’t there yet, he will always be able to rely on his grappling, and that is going to help Ryan win MMA fights.

Are you excited to see Gordon Ryan take his talents to ONE Championship and compete in MMA?