Chael Sonnen has just become the latest popular figure to wade in on the use of PEDs in Jiu-Jitsu, and he even discussed Gordon Ryan’s defense of his own practices. Ryan has always been one of the most open Jiu-Jitsu competitors when it comes to his usage of PEDs but he really took it a step further recently when he revealed his timeline and reasons for using. That’s the news that Sonnen was reacting to in his recent video and he shared his thoughts on some of the reasons that Ryan gave, including his comments on the legality of PEDs in Jiu-Jitsu.
That was actually the first thing that Sonnen touched on in fact, and he found that he couldn’t really disagree with Ryan’s assessment:
“That’s an interesting wordplay. That’s not gonna hold up but there is a pass given to Gordon (Ryan) even in appreciation, because he is very much right. He is very much right in that using PEDs does not give him an advantage. It levels a playing field. That mentality has never worked anywhere, but it doesn’t make him wrong. You see where it gets interesting?”
Sonnen himself has obviously been tested multiple times in his UFC career, but he also fought the majority of his fights prior to the USADA partnership in 2015. MMA was once in a similar state to Jiu-Jitsu and when it was an untested sport, it was an open secret that pretty much everyone was taking something. With his career starting back in 1997, that atmosphere is something that Sonnen is very familiar with. That’s why some of the other statements that Ryan made resonated with him:
“He said, as a matter of fact, that he would give 20 years of his life. If his life expectancy was to be shortened by 20 years but to be the GOAT while he was here, and that is a very common mentality with top-level athletes. Again, I chalked it up to Gordon being candid.”
Chael Sonnen shared his thoughts on Gordon Ryan’s defense of using PEDs in a recent video uploaded to his official YouTube channel:
