ADCC champion and notorious grappler Gordon Ryan isn’t shy when it comes to making bold statements. 

After winning gold in the 88kg division at the 2017 ADCC World Championships in Espoo, Finland, in September, Ryan told us that his next big goal was to win worlds — only this time in the gi! 

We caught up with Gordon Ryan in New York last week to discuss his upcoming KASAI Pro superfight with two-time ADCC champion Yuri Simoes, and Ryan reaffirmed that he is absolutely serious about winning worlds in the gi. 

It’s all part of his master plan, you see. 

“My goal was to prove I’m the best no-gi grappler in the world, which I did. Now my plan is to prove I’m the best gi grappler in the world, which I’m going to do. And then my plan after that is to prove I’m the best MMA fighter in the world.”  

Ryan explained that his lofty goals are designed to be completed one after the other rather than trying to achieve all three at the same time. 

And while we know him as a grappler, Ryan’s focus is on something else altogether. 

“My ultimate goal is to be one of the greatest MMA champions of all time. My goal was never to be the greatest grappler of all time, it was to prove to myself that I’m the best in no-gi and the best gi competitor, and then more to move to MMA.”

“If I chose to stay with jiu-jitsu until I was 40 years old, I’m confident I could crush anyone’s records with world titles, ADCC titles, things like that," he added. "I just want to win every major thing once and then go to MMA and close the jiu-jitsu chapter in my life.” 

Even though Ryan’s end goal is to go into MMA, grappling fans can relax — he’s not completely decided that he’ll go away for good. 

“Maybe do some ADCC superfights, because I plan to win the ADCC absolute in 2019," he said. "But my main focus is to be an MMA champion.”

Watch the full 18-minute interview below...