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“That’ll Be Like Playing [Michael] Jordan One-on-One” – Strongest Man on the Planet Halfthor Bjornsson Reassured Gordon Ryan’s Faith in BJJ

Published 02/20/2023, 9:30 PM EST

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The submission grappler Gordon Ryan remains a prominent figure in combat sports and also finds himself mentioned in the UFC. While the ‘King’ recently offered his aid to Conor McGregor, he also found an unlikely sparring partner in the Iceland star Halfthor Bjornsson. The 5-times ADCC world champion established the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu against the bigger opponents when he rolled with the world’s strongest man, Thor. As he rolled with The Mountain on the mat, the BJJ ace exhibited his skills and expertise in martial arts. However, things didn’t turn out as the Hollywood star would have expected to.

Notably, the 27-year-old appeared on the Food Truck Diaries w/Brendan Schaub. The host, as he shared some Austin burgers with the prominent guest, shared an incident when he shot a commercial with Thor. Further, the standup comic narrated the incident that ‘The Mountain’ himself disclosed to him as he rolled with Ryan.

Schaub disclosed the baffled Thor was ignorant of the skills of Gordon Ryan

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The MMA fighter-turned-comedian enquired the 34-year-old actor about how the event panned out. However, the strongman appeared baffled. He then admitted he assumed he would control and hold Ryan down.

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Following this, the former UFC fighter told his guest, “It’s not his fault. It’s just ignorance is worse.”

Subsequently, ‘Big Brown’ stated, “I started laughing. He’s [Thor] like, why are you laughing? I’m like, I’m laughing because I can’t believe you thought you were gonna do well. He was like, that’s messed up. I’m like, no it’s not.”

“That be like playing [Michael] Jordan one-on-one. Like dude, I can’t believe I didn’t get a shot off, it’s like, really! It’s just he doesn’t know,” he added later on.

Read More: “That’s Because Sambo Guys Have Far Better… “ – After Islam Makhachev Fight, BJJ Goat Gordon Ryan Accepts Jiu-Jitsu Is Inferior to Sambo for MMA

Later in the segment, the don of BJJ recalled the incident as he put forth the details.

Ryan grapples with the strongest man on the planet

The Austin resident stated he let Thor start in side control and the actor got hold of everything like his arm shelf. However, the super weight escaped, swept him, and ended up submitting him.

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Pointing out the relevance of the incident, Ryan said, “This is good. Because when I meet like a regular person, who they just people like, oh man, if the guy was just way bigger, it would never work. Now I can say I literally grappled the strongest person on the planet and I promise you Jiu-Jitsu works.”

Gordon Ryan will face Felipe Pena next in the tetralogy bout scheduled on February 25 at Who’s Number One.

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Watch This Story: Five Times Khamzat Chimaev Obliterated his opponents in his MMA Career

What do you think of this incident where Gordon Ryan swept the floor with Thor? Do you believe Jiu-Jitsu works against bigger opponents? Let us know in the comments below.

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Written by:

Rohit Lohan

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Rohit Lohan is a UFC writer at EssentiallySports. After completing his undergraduate as a History major, he is currently pursuing LLB. Rohit is a big MMA fan and has been following UFC since 2017.
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Edited by:

Debmallya Chakraborty