It’s been over a year since the infamous slap Gordon Ryan landed on Andre Galvao’s face, but the jiu jitsu community is still talking about it.
Back in February of 2021, Ryan and Galvao met face to face backstage at a grappling event.
The two had been trash talking to each other for years, but after they met face to face, their disagreement became physical.
In response, Ryan landed two solid slaps on Galvão. The slaps were so hard that the sound of them echoed across the room.
Galvao appeared startled and even surprised by Ryan actually assaulted him.
Given that the Brazilian once took on Tyron Woodley in MMA in addition to being a multiple times ADCC and IBJJF World champion everyone expected him to retaliate but Galvao held off.
Even some of Galvao’s friends and training partners criticized Galvao.
Recently, former UFC Middleweight contender Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza shared his thoughts on the slapping incident.
“Andre Galvao is my brother, I like him a lot, but I think he dropped the ball on this one,” Jacaré told MMA Journalist Guilherme Cruz. “I don’t know how their beef started but apparently it was Galvao who went to Gordon to size him up.”
“[Galvao] made another mistake, if a guy slaps you you have to come back with a punch.”
Later, Jacaré was asked if he believes that the slap could affect Galvao mentally going into the much-awaited ADCC clash with Gordon Ryan.
“No way, It won’t affect him, not at all,” Souza said. “He is used to it, he is used to these crazy moments that happen in a grappler’s life.”
“Galvao will show up super well prepared, and if Gordon doesn’t show up prepared he is gonna lose.”
“I know that Gordon is the favorite, but Galvao is a beast, man.” Jacaré continued. “In my opinion, he is a phenomenal ADCC competitor, in fact, I believe that he [Galvao] is the best ADCC competitor ever.”
Galvao is the current “Super Fight” ADCC Champion. He will be defending his title against Gordon Ryan at the upcoming ADCC event to be held in September 2022, at Thomas & Mack in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.