It was a night marred in controversy for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. This was because Andre Galvao was slapped in the face by Gordon Ryan backstage, not once but twice. Ironically, Gordon Ryan’s next opponent in the promotion is against combat jiu Jitsu legend Vagner Rocha, who knows all about slapping in a BJJ environment.
However, this was no match and if you though their trash talk was purely promotional, well now you know otherwise. The slapping came after Galvao flipped Ryan off who was not happy about this. This comes after months of words between the pair. As it happens, Ryan beat Roberto Jimenez via armbar, but all the post-match attention was focused on the slapping incident.
Viewers were shocked by the scenes and some claimed it was too far, whilst others argued that this is the nature of combat sports and is part of promotion. One thing is for sure, it only adds further heat to a potential ADCC bout between the two that has been in the works for years now.
