Nicky Ryan will soon be in perhaps the biggest match of his career but is it too soon for such a high level test?

John Danaher told flograppling:

 “Historically, I’ve always held Nicky back and I’ve always been wrong, to be honest. Nicky has proven me wrong time and time again. Matches I didn’t think he was ready for he took and won convincingly.”

Still Geo Martinez is nothing to scoff at. The 10th planet flag bearer got his black belt in record time

Geo Martinez (3 years)

Geo Martinez is a student of Eddie Bravo.He comes from a breakdancing background and that allowed him to use his attributes when training in Bravo’s 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu system. Martinez incredibly became a 10p Jiu-Jitsu black belt (No Gi only) after just three years of training. He has won the EBI tournament and placed 4th at the 2015 ADCC.

But is it really all so straight forward for Gordon Ryan’s younger brother? Well his age is certainly a factor. This is among the major things that were apparent to all of us who were watching the Studio 540 challenge. While all of us talked about Gordon Ryan and Felipe Pena perhaps much more interesting match of that day was Kennedy Maciel aka Cobrinha Jr and Nicky Ryan. In it some big holes were drilled in the youngsters game. Not that this necessarily matters – Cobrinha Jr comes from the IBJJF mindset while Geo and the 10th planet movement are known for sub only approach.

Just compare these two performances

Still John Danaher would’ve preferred if Nicky waited a while:

 He’s incredibly mature for his age. Physically he may still be a boy, but technically he’s an old man. His technique is impressive. One thing I know is he won’t be overwhelmed technically in this match.”

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