Marcelo Alonso is a journalist who specializes in martial arts – and he has recently participated in an interesting “Connect Cast” episode.

During it, he spoke about the comparison between BJJ legend Rickson Gracie and Gordon Ryan, the best-known BJJ athlete today.
Alonso touched upon the topic of who is “the greatest” between the two…

And his choice was pretty much straightforward [translated from Portuguese]:

Rickson was a curious [character], that I [found out when I] lived there.

I lived inside Carlson Gracie’s [house], I stayed at his house in Los Angeles at that time, so I saw a very curious thing; Carlson created them not to admire Rickson.

[So], we have no reference to who Rickson was today, only [about the one] who lived [back in the day].

Ah, Gordon Ryan, he’s a controversial guy.
But Rickson Gracie is the absolute “king” of Jiu-Jitsu.

He was about three levels above, today we don’t have that.

Of course, this is just a subjective opinion… But, what do you think?
Who is the greater of the two athletes?

There are a lot of factors to take into consideration, not just (substantial) competition successes – but also the influence on the BJJ community and history as a whole.
What do you think?