Gordon Ryan has now had to withdraw from his final two matches of the year after suffering a rib injury while in a training camp for one of them. He apparently suffered the injury several days ago but has been attempting to train through it in order to make it to the mats for his next match, but he’s been unable to do so. He has confirmed that he’s going to reschedule the specific matches that he’ll be missing out on at a later date, but that definitely won’t be until 2024.
Ryan’s next match was supposed to be against Lucas ‘Hulk’ Barbosa at Who’s Number One 21 on November 30th, 2023. Considering this match was just days away from taking place, it seems unlikely that the promotion are going to be able to find a suitable replacement for him. That’s made even more difficult by the fact that Ryan v Barbosa was supposed to be the main event match with Ryan’s heavyweight title on the line. The most likely outcome at this point is that the event goes ahead without that match and the co-main event is promoted to main event status instead.
That isn’t the only matchup that has now been sidelined by Gordon Ryan suffering a rib injury though. He was also booked to compete against Mason Fowler at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 on December 10th, 2023. This was yet another main event match against an exciting opponent, but that promotion does have a little more time to try and find an adequate replacement in order to keep Mason Fowler on the card. Even if they’re unable to do so, UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5 also has a superb co-main event between Nicholas Meregali and Felipe Pena that they could move further up the card.
Ryan hasn’t had the best of times this year and has only actually been able to compete once, a submission win over Patrick Gaudio back at Who’s Number One 20 on October 1st, 2023. Prior to that, he spent the rest of the year on the sidelines for a variety of different reasons. First Ryan was struck by an illness that forced him to withdraw from his fourth match with Pena and upon his return from a trip to Abu Dhabi shortly after, he suffered a bad case of strep throat. While unable to train due to this, he also had to undergo a tonsillectomy and surgery to fix a deviated septum. The recovery time after this kept him off the mats for longer again and it was only after this that he was able to take his first, and now only, match of the year against Patrick Gaudio.
Gordon Ryan announced the news that he sustained a rib injury in training and has had to withdraw from his last two matches of the year in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
