Allan Goes, a 7th degree coral belt and eight-time Brazilian national Jiu-Jitsu champion with fight experience in Pride FC, the UFC, and IFL, is questioning whether Gordon Ryan’s dominance in submission grappling would carry over to MMA.

Speaking on a recent podcast, Goes drew on his own background under Carlson Gracie, having earned his black belt at 18, to argue that the style of Jiu-Jitsu Ryan built his career on doesn’t translate to the cage:

Where’s Gordon Ryan? How many mixed martial arts matches does he have?

He could make twice as more (in MMA). He’s great in the Jiu-Jitsu sport.
Put him in MMA. He got a bouncing head like Buchecha is bouncing his head to put himself together.

The reference to Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida, the former multiple-time IBJJF world champion now competing in ONE Championship, wasn’t incidental.
Goes pointed to Buchecha’s transition as “proof” of what happens when modern sport Jiu-Jitsu meets striking:

He’s been practicing only those berimbolo and this lapel and this lapel movement.
All that stuff that will not be applied when you start taking punches on the face, when people start breaking your teeth.

That thing’s not going to work.

For Goes, the issue goes beyond any single athlete.

Today’s competitive Jiu-Jitsu was developed for pure grappling environments, not for combat with strikes involved:

This Jiu-Jitsu that’s being applied today is great. A lot of submission, a lot of berimbolo and switching here and switching movement there.
But this is not efficient for mixed martial arts.

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