Third Coast Grappling 3: Gordon Ryan v Bo Nickal Preview

Third Coast Grappling 3 takes a trip to Texas this coming weekend with a truly unique main event. They’ve gone through a few different options as Gordon Ryan was initially scheduled to face Rodolfo Vieira before he was hit with injury, then Erberth Santos before he had to pull out of the event as well.

This must’ve made for a stressful build up to the event that caps off their debut year as they’re also planning on leaving FloGrappling and selling the event alone. But Third Coast Grappling (3CG) have pulled it out of the bag and arranged for Gordon Ryan to face 3 x NCAA Champion, Bo Nickal under modified rules, intended to bridge the gap between wrestling and BJJ.

The match will be one fifteen-minute round where points can be scored, leading to victory by either submission or most points at the end of the round. Nickal is having one of his biggest advantages taken away as 3CG have removed the possibility of victory by technical fall. Ryan is probably the most disadvantaged however as not only are heel hooks illegal, there will also be no guard-pulling either. The idea behind this ruleset is to try and create a level playing-field between two athletes at the very top of their respective grappling arts.

Despite the attempt at even footing, Ryan still has the advantage here. Bo Nickal doesn’t ever need to train submission defense for his sport but Ryan will be training in wrestling on an almost daily basis. Nickal is still on another level and will almost definitely take Ryan down at will but once the fight hits the floor, expect Ryan to take his back and finish with an RNC relatively quickly afterwards.

Alongside this, Third Coast Grappling 3 also brings two other excellent fights in Jake Shields v Romulo Barral and Gilbert Burns v Edwin Najmi. Shields was at one time, one of the best grapplers in MMA but Barral is a multiple-time world champion in BJJ and this is his fight to lose. In the second match, Burns is coming off a loss at Polaris 12 but is still a fantastic competitor and should be just a little too much for Najmi to handle.

For tickets to Third Coast Grappling 3 on December 7th, click here.

Also, for our BJJ practitioners, Keenan’s Lapel Guard deal has been extended past Black Friday.