Gordon Ryan recently shared his full history with steroids and even explained the reasons why he originally started to use them. Although many consider Ryan to be the greatest no gi grappler of all time, his usage of PEDs has been one of the most controversial elements of his career. Obviously PEDs themselves are incredibly controversial anyway but it’s become a hot topic in BJJ in recent years, as the sport has garnered mainstream attention and the vast majority of promotions do not test for them. In fact testing has only been introduced to the sport relatively recently and for competitors in the 90s and early 2000s, it was nonexistent.
When Ryan explained why he first started using PEDs, it turned out that the lack of testing was actually a core part of his reasoning:
“Number one, because they were legal in Jiu-Jitsu… Especially back then in 2016 when I started, there was no organizations in Jiu-Jitsu that even tested for PEDs. So they were just like clearly legal. Number two, people don’t remember anything other than the fact that you won or lost. Noone talks about the fact that Khabib (Nurmagomedov) missed weight how many times? Six, seven, eight times? They talk about the fact that Khabib’s undefeated. The only thing that people care about is whether you won or whether you lost. They don’t care if you were injured, they don’t care if you were sick, they don’t care if you had a good camp, a bad camp. What everyone cares about, when everyone looks back in ten years, is ‘did this guy win or did this guy lose?’ That combined with the fact that steroids are legal in Jiu-Jitsu, it kinda made it a no-brainer.”
Gordon Ryan went on to explain that there was another reason behind his decision to use steroids as well, and it stemmed from his close relationship with another elite competitor:
“I was always in Garry’s weight class. Garry Tonon, who was my coach at the time, we were both in 77(kg) and I didn’t want to compete in ADCC at 77 and have to compete against my coach. I wanted to go up in weight… I was a big 77 at the time because I walked around at like 185/190(lbs) so I was a relatively big 170. But I was a tiny 88 kilogram, which is 194(lbs). So I wanted to go up and get out of Garry’s weight class.”
Ryan actually started to gain recognition in the sport at that weight class, before he ever won any ADCC titles. This was starting from around 2015 when he was still just a brown belt, when he won a few titles on smaller shows like Sapateiro before beginning his incredible run at EBI events. Gordon Ryan was then actually able to pinpoint exactly when he started using steroids:
“My first introduction to PEDs, steroids, whatever we’re gonna call them… was after I won EBI (at) 170(lbs). Then after that I started going up in weight and getting to a higher weight class.”
The event that he’s referring to is EBI 11 back in the beginning of 2017, and it took place just a few months before he made his ADCC debut in the under 88kg division. Although the biggest accomplishments of his career all took place after this time, he doesn’t attribute any that success to PEDs:
“I was submitting ADCC champions and medallists way before I was ever on steroids. While I was natural, while these guys were juiced up. Like natural, I submitted Yuri (Simoes), I submitted Rustam (Khabilov)… Then I submitted Keenan (Cornelius), I submitted Vagner (Rocha). I submitted all these guys natural, having just gotten my black belt. So I was 5 years into doing Jiu-Jitsu, I had just gotten my black belt, and I was 20 years old between 180 and 190lbs natural; and I was submitting all the best guys in the world… And I was a tenth of what I am technically back then.”
Another thing that often comes up when people discuss Gordon Ryan and his usage of steroids and the long-running stomach issues that have plagued his career. Many fans have pointed out a possible link between the two, but for Ryan it’s obvious to see that the two things are not connected:
“The reason I have stomach issues is because I had recurring Staph infections in 2018 and I was on antibiotics for Staph like 200 days out of the year and that just completely wiped out by gut biome. That arguments makes zero sense in any capacity because there’s tons of guys that are on steroids that their stomachs are fine and they can eat through the whole day.”
He also went on to go into more detail about the status of testing in the sport, and how that has fit into his career at the highest level:
“The only place they’re not legal is in IBJJF, where they started testing after I won worlds. I won the (IBJJF No Gi World Championship) and they were like ‘man, we have to make sure Gordon doesn’t win again’. So then they started testing. So there’s certain tournaments like IBJJF, just the worlds I think and no gi worlds, where they started testing but I never competed in IBJJF when steroids were illegal. I never competed in any event where steroids were illegal, where they said you couldn’t take them or we’re gonna test for these.”
There are plenty of competitors in the sport who rail against the use of PEDs of course, and some of them have taken issue with Ryan specifically. He addressed those competitors who do choose to abstain from PEDs as well:
“I respect that. If you’re a guy who’s competing against a bunch of guys who are on steroids and you wanna win natural, I do respect that. I did it for a long time. Most of my career from white to black belt… I’ve actually had more years natural in my career than I have on performance-enhancers so I do respect that but at the same time it’s like if they’re legal, why wouldn’t you do them?”
Although he might respect the general approach of trying to compete as a natural athlete, Ryan does take issue with one particular that crops up from those competitors:
“Whenever someone wins who’s natural it’s ‘oh well I won against this guy on steroids so I’m better!’ but then when they lose it’s the excuse of ‘well I lost to this guy because he was on steroids.’ and the athletes have to understand people don’t care.”
Gordon Ryan finished off his lengthy discussion of PEDs and steroids by addressing the concerns that it may end up leading to a shorter life, which is one of the main reasons that people choose to abstain from it:
“I’m gonna do everything that I can to be the best athlete that I can be. Even if it were to take 20 years off of my life, I wouldn’t regret doing the things that I’ve done to become the greatest of all time in this sport. Because ultimately when I die, my legacy is what’s going to be remembered. I would rather die with a legacy at 50 years old than just be a normal guy dying at 70 or 80 years old. That’s not a sacrifice that people are willing to make, and that’s why they’re not Gordon Ryan.”
Gordon Ryan shared his full history with steroids and explained his reasons for using them in a recent video uploaded to his official YouTube channel:
